IN MEMORIAM! LIVE 365!

This is a story about the shutting down of Live365, a streaming service that was active for many years. I originally wrote this story several years ago, and since then, it has been revived.

Live365 is dead!

The words ring falsely to the ear.  The fact brings sorrow to millions in America and around the world.

Of course, it wasn’t Live365’s choice to go silent.  The Copyright Royalty Board raised royalty fees for internet broadcasters just before they took off for the Holidays this past December.  This meant that web broadcasters would have to pay increased fees for the music that they streamed on the web. What really killed the company was the fact that small webcasters were not exempt from the new rules.  

And that means that many of these webcasters are out of business or have had to find new streaming platforms.

Live365 is without question the pioneer in allowing those with music hobbies to put together their own internet station.  I myself had one for several years called “Music Is Life,” which played a variety of great sounds from the Who to Luciano Pavarotti.  And a lot of people were able to listen to my stream until financial constraints forced me to close it down.

You could find anything on Live365 from Bette Midler singing “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra playing a Strauss waltz.  My personal favorites were the channels that played holiday music all year long(not just Christmas music, mind you), but various ethnic music channels, including Celtic rock and anime themes.  There were even those who used the platform to further the Faith of God and his son Jesus Christ.

And of course, many college radio stations used the Live365 apps to stream their unique programming across the world.  Many alumni of these colleges were able to listen to their alma mater’s programming.

The Copyright Exchange Board’s secret deal killed all that.  With the decision that was given before Christmas, it seems that most of the webcasting businesses are going to be controlled by the big companies like CBS, Clear Channel and Entercomm, who want us to listen to what they play.  Also, the big radio stations don’t have to play the royalty fees because they want to control what you hear.

Still, I believe that independent internet radio does have a future.  We need to speak up and tell our legislators to help the small webcaster in his or her efforts to spread a wider and more varied choice of music.  Most radio stations owned by the big companies across the land are owned by big conglomerates, monsters that we need to stand up to.  And we can also support efforts to save internet radio from being smothered by big business and the feds.

It’s time to speak up and let the little guy know that he or she is not alone, that we appreciate their kind of music and not what the big boys want us to hear.  It’s time that the local radio stations started paying the royalty fees and allowing a wider playlist.  We can do it, you know.

It was Live365’s dream to allow people to start their own radio station and share the music they lived with the world.  On their web site, they bid farewell by saying, “We were one of the first.  Happily, we are not the last.”  And it’s referred them to web pages like Radionomy, Accuradio and Radiotunes, among others who requested anonymity for different reasons.

I’m hopeful that small independent webcasts will survive and speak up to the Congress and their members to keep that dream alive.  After all, this country was built on the belief that everyone should be allowed to sing their sweet song and share it with the world.  I look forward to the day when we can really get diverse music for all tastes.

After all, I believe that Live365 pioneered the idea that anyone could be a disc jockey in his or her own spare time, so that the music they love can be shared with the world.  With that, it deserves a toast from all  music hobbyists like myself.

So from all who knew you, from the over 300 employees who worked to keep your ship running over the past 17 years, from the over 100,000 webcasters(like myself) who were able to showcase diverse musical styles, and from their over 100 million dedicated listeners(again, myself included) to whom you brought the joy of music and its rainbow of genres, Goodbye, Live365, goodbye.  You may be gone, but your spirit will always live on.

Take it from someone who knows.