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Perplexing radio broadcasters since the medium’s Second Golden Age sputtered out has been appealing to the tastes of music fans. Picking the hits, so to speak, became a specialist’s task, often highly rewarded. But music tastes change fast; the fashion and the fad a moveable feast.
Streaming services terrify music radio people, and for good reason. Music fans can find just their favorites and, in theory, avoid the rest. Spotify and others are famous for curated playlists attuned to, largely predictable, music styles.
Big data is making all this so much more scientific. A couple of years ago Spotify acquired the “music intelligence” company Echo Nest to crunch together all that can be discerned from smartphone and online users with all that’s known about music preferences. Algorithms are us; Echo Nest was developed by MIT Media Labs. Spotify got into a bit of difficulty with users for plugging GPS data into playlist selection. (See more about online radio and streaming audio here)
Adding a bit of social psychology to that metadata is Irish start-up Gramma Music’s “reactive radio” project, reported by thejournal.ie (March 21). Gramma Music “works with” Echo Nest. By grabbing data bits specific to the user - from location and weather to facial expressions - the search for the perfect mood music is on. The ad people will be big fans.
Several French media operators are sending a strong message to web users about ad blocking. Those enjoying free access need to disable ad blocking applications, say messages on L’Equipe and Le Parisien websites giving instructions. Le Monde’s website simply appeals to the unfairness of it all.
The industrial action began Monday (March 24) and is expected to last “at least a week,” reported French tech news portal lesnumeriques.com (March 22). Also participating, in one way or another, are music streaming portal Deezer, Lagardère Active and RTL Group. Ad blockers are used by 27% of French internet users. (See more about digital advertising here)
The philosophical - and legal - debate between website operators and users over the primacy of all that good content remains unsettled. "Ad blocking is rife in France,” offered IAB UK CEO Guy Phillipson in a statement, “so this collective action by news publishers is no surprise. Ad blocking is a genuine threat to the free availability of quality online journalism.”
Makers of ad blocking software further tangled the issue by sending ransom notes to publishers. For a fee certain ad blocking software creates a “white list” letting through certain web pages, ads and all. In response, it seems, ad blockers now offer software solutions to block the the anti-ad blocking measures. No truce seems imminent.
The trek toward switching European radio broadcasting from old analogue FM to new digital platforms has certainly entered uphill terrain. Only in Norway will silence come to national FM stations in favor of DAB (digital audio broadcasting) platforms early next year. Audio streaming to mobile devices emerged from the cave of slow data rates. Still, competitive issues are the wild beast along the path.
Broadcasting on the DAB platform in Austria has been slow to catch on. Since last May a DAB+ multiplex, the upgraded technology, has offered 15 radio channels to the Vienna area in a trial authorized by media regulator KommAustria. The plan was to run the trial, check the happiness then launch DAB+ multiplexes across the country over the next couple of years with the intention of phasing out FM broadcasting by 2024.
Public broadcaster ORF and Austria’s biggest privately owned radio broadcaster Kronehit declined to participate in the Vienna DAB+ trial, both preferring the streaming path. In February KommAustria asked broadcasters and other interested parties to share their ideas on digital radio transition. So far, views remain intractably split.
“We should not be chasing an adventure just because a few broadcasters and the electronics industry want it,” said ORF director general Alexander Wrabetz, quoted by derStandard.at (March 16). He also said transition to the DAB+ platform would be too expensive and, anyway, ORF is limited by law to just two additional national radio channels that must be ad-free. (See more about digital radio here)
“What will come out of this needs assessment is the same as before,” said Kronehit managing director Ernst Swoboda, quoted by kurrier.at (February 16), responding to the KommAustria request for industry comments. “DAB+ is marginal in Austria. And, also, international skepticism is great.”
“FM is a successful business model, but offers no more development opportunities,” retorted Digitalradio Österreich vice chair and Radio Arabella managing director Wolfgang Struber, quoted by derStandard.at (March 18). “The result will be losing more and more listeners to streaming services from international providers. Digital radio offers opportunities to make radio viable: diversity, interactivity, audio quality, reliability, security.”
Radio Arabella is, notably, a member of the newly announced European Digital Radio Alliance (EDRA). Most of the dozen founding members are public broadcasters. BBC Radio director Helen Boaden is chair and the office located at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in Geneva. Bauer Media, Global Radio and Radio Arabella are commercial/private broadcaster members. ORF is not participating in the EDRA.
“Digital radio offers great advantages to listeners but for too long we have seen it as a national issue,” said Ms Boaden in a statement at RadioDays Europe. “That fragmented approach has been holding back investment.” An important distinction between EDRA and WorldDAB, the Eureka-147 digital standard support group, is the place of chip-makers; integral to WorldDAB, absent from EDRA.
Latvian authorities last week ordered pro-Russian media provocateur Graham Phillips out of their country. He appeared, quite uninvited, at the annual Latvian Legionnaire's Remembrance Day memorial in Riga and, waving a video camera, accused those in attendance of being Nazi sympathizers. Phillips was busted for being disruptive, reported delfi.lv (March 17), and given the option of taking a flight to the UK or driving back to Russia.
Mr. Phillips gained something of a reputation “reporting” for Russia’s international outreach TV channel Russia Today, now known as RT, from Ukraine with a decidedly pro-Russian point of view. For his rather far-fetched reports the Ukrainian government ordered him out of the country never to return. In its report on the Riga incident, RT referred to Mr. Phillips as a “former stringer.”
Latvian Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis banned Mr. Phillips from entering the country for three years. “It was a provocation,” said Minister Kozlovskis, “and cannot be considered journalism."
Taking to Twitter, which could be his only available release, Mr. Phillips reported “it’s nice to be back in Russia, a country with freedom of speech and rights for journalists.”
Always interested in stirring the magic of controversy Russian state news agency Rossiya Segodnya (which translates as Russia Today) chairman Dmitry Kiselyov took to his perch as headline-grabbing pundit on state TV channel Rossiya 1 (March 13) to endorse Donald Trump for US president. Under European Union (EU) sanctions Mr. Kiselyov is banned from entering EU Member States. Rossiya Segodnya includes news agency RIA Novosti and former Voice of Russia international broadcaster Sputnik and, officially, is unrelated to RT. Winkie blinkie.
The media sphere is in a state of constant distress. The future, once so clear, has been diminished to nano-seconds. Of course, young people are the future, employment status notwithstanding. The keys to reaching young people are coming into view: be bold, be brash and be on smartphones. Also, perhaps most important, set the brand apart from old people. Investors are attracted to a simple elevator pitch.
Investment bank Lazard France CEO Matthieu Pigasse recently invested an undisclosed sum in Vice France, subsidiary of self-proclaimed youth-oriented Vice Media, through personal investment vehicle LNEI. Apart from his day job advising governments how to manage their finances, M.Pigasse is a financial partner in newspaper publisher Le Monde, co-owner (with Le Monde) of Radio Nova and youth culture magazine Les Inrockuptibles, known locally as Inrocks. “We have much to learn from Vice Media to improve the audience for Inrocks and Radio Nova,” said M.Pigasse, quoted by AFP (March 11), noting that the Radio Nova “average age is rather over 30 years.” (See more about media in France here)
Vice started out in 1994 as a Montreal alternative youth culture magazine, not too dissimilar from Rolling Stone and Village Voice a generation earlier. Quickly relocating to The Big Apple for all the obvious reasons Vice became an online video portal; same theme, different platform. Cable network HBO started broadcasting the 15 minute Vice news show on Friday nights. It won awards, over and over. Vice News, a separate division, was created in 2013; Millennials like it, conventional media watchers find it pointless and absurd. But it’s on YouTube and has a smartphone app. (See more about online news here)
Investors swooned: first 21st Century Fox, then the Walt Disney Company/Hearst joint venture A&E Networks and big Silicon Valley VC Technology Crossover Ventures. Last year Disney placed an additional US$200 million. Financial types value the company, still closely held, at something over US$4 billion, roughly twice the market value of The New York Times Company. The Viceland TV channel debuted at the end of February in the US and in Canada, through a joint venture with Rogers Media. Vice editions in Greece, Serbia and Romania have been launched through a joint venture with Greek broadcaster Antenne Group with Czech, Russian, Hungarian, Slovenian and Slovak offerings to follow.
Vice France first appeared in 2014 with about half its content in French. The accompanying TV show appears on public network France 4. Matthieu Pigasse “is a natural partner,” said Vice founder Shane Smith, quoted by Le Figaro (March 14), “He’s a visionary, courageous and a little crazy. And we both come from the culture of alternative magazines.”
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