How to Start an Internet Radio Business
Radio broadcasting has been revolutionized. An Internet radio station, also called the online radio station, web radio, or net radio, is audio streams that can be transmitted over the Internet.
Unlike the traditional radio stations, this is a radio stream or a listening link and therefore you cannot be able to use your traditional radio set to listen to it. You may only be able to listen to it from your smartphone, computer, tablet, or other connected speakers.
Today, Internet radio stations have multiplied in numbers and have spread all over the globe and it is one of the free media that exist. Anyone can invest in it and establish it. Setting it up means sharing your knowledge and experiences the world over.
The Internet gives you access beyond the traditional radio stations that are blocked by radio waves and transmit mainly commercial and formatted music programmes. It is easy and also doesn’t require heavy capital outlay to get it established. If you want to venture into it, why not, it is even another avenue through which you can make a living.
How to start an online radio business
Don’t think it is for the professionals alone that can venture into internet radio. No, anyone can do it. In fact, after reading this guide, you could be ready within 24 hours to make your maiden broadcast..
- Set up your station and user roles
- Add other DJs and/or Program Managers
- Create your first radio show
- Upload Audio
- Make playlists and use smart locks
- Add content to your show
- Live broadcasting
- Promote your internet radio station
- How to make Money from Internet Radio
- SWOT Analysis of Online Radio Business
- Conclusion
Step 1 Set up your station and user roles
Generate Your Name
One of the first things you should do to own a radio station is to decide what your radio station name would be. The name you craft must represent what your prospective target audience stands for; are they young people, a particular age bracket or just music lovers or some technical aspect of life. The name you choose must also make sense with the online community.
The name you choose should be precise and the suffix must be in line with your target audience in your area of concentration. Another important thing is that you should create and register a domain name and decide on the URL that fits the service you are going to provide.
Identify your station with logo or signature
You may have noticed that every radio station has a particular logo or signature tune that sets it apart from others. Therefore you must make a logo that is inventive and attracts your target audience. This logo or signature is like your branding and shows your audience the message you intend to pass on to them. You must verify what obtains out there before making your mind on the station name and logo.
Register With Tax Authority
It is important that you register your business with relevant tax authorities both at state and federal levels. As an entity, there are certain taxes your business should pay. Also, if you hire staff working for you, you need to deduct tax from their salary which you are expected to remit to the state tax authority. Doing otherwise will be seen as tax evasion. Of course, this has its own legal implications.
Read Also: Why You Must Register Your Small Business
Open a Bank Account
It is important that you have a bank account for your business. Even though you have a personal bank account, you still need to open a separate account for your business where you can lodge all the supermarket revenues. Also, you should make all the expenses relating to the business from the company. This makes you more accountable. At the same time, it will be easier for you to source loans from the bank when needed. Furthermore, having a bank account makes it easy for your accountant to prepare the financial statements of the supermarket.
Consider the copyright laws
Music copyright laws are another area you must consider to avoid legal infringement and lawsuits. If you are going to stream music, you must procure a license unless if your transmission is non-musical such as panel discussion/talk shows. The cost will involve paying for the location you are operating in and where you are transmitting to. But to reduce costs drastically, you can opt for using royalty-free music; nevertheless, you still need to buy a one-time license.
You might create a simple radio station with very few equipments such as a microphone, a pair of headphones, and a registered Airtime Pro station. These will enable you to start your broadcasting. But if you have a big budget and you want to make it big from the onset, you can opt for some or all of the following equipment:
Music Licensing
Music Royalties
Web Hosting
Radio Streaming
Power Intro Production Cost
Website Design
Jingle package
Website Templates
You can configure your station on your own, what it needs is a USB condenser microphone with a plug n play, all included in one package that doesn’t need a much of technical knowledge to set up. Simply insert your headphones into the 3.5mm jack, and you are broadcasting already.
Find news to share
If you decide your online radio to be news-oriented, you need to design a strategy for getting news items before the program is broadcast live. One simple way to go about it is to register with the RSS feeds of all the news sites and blogs that you do follow and gather the news together in one place. This brings all your materials in one place, particularly when organising your show. Some online tools you can use for this purpose are available via the internet.
Step 2: Add other DJs and/or Program Managers
Certainly, you may not want to run a one-man show but to use other DJs and Program Managers even though they may be far away from where the station is situated. The major difference between the “DJs” and Program Manager is that DJs can upload content to shows that are assigned to them. But a Program Manager can produce, edit and delete programs and can as well able to assign DJs to them, but both are prevented from having access to the system menu.
You can add a DJ or Program Manager, by going to “setting.” Open the “Manage Users” screen from the menu by selecting “Users” from the menu. When you now click on “New User” button, a screen that appears will enable you to fill in the username, password and email. Click “Save” after selecting the user type. This done, the user will be able to upload music and program playlists, showing you have assigned them to someone.
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Step 3: Upload Audio
Once the user’s set up have been completed, you are to begin uploading audio stuff. To do this, click the “Upload” button located on the left side of the menu. To upload files, you can either drag and drop audio files on the screen that appears or click to browse your files in the computer. You can also use the option of the file transfer protocol (FTP) to upload audio files.
Step 4: Create your first radio show
Having uploaded some media, the time is now ripe to begin scheduling your first radio outing. To accomplish the scheduling tasks, go to “Calendar” in the menu found on the left-hand side of the screen. You will probably use the weekly view since the calendar will be empty at this stage. The need for the daily and monthly schedules will become necessary later over time when you’ve scheduled more content.
Going to the calendar page, a window will open on the left-hand side with some details when you click on the day you want to schedule your show. You have to name the show you are creating and also select the time you want it to run. After you have completed filling in the details, click “add this show”.
Meanwhile, the scheduler has so many features, including repeat and inputting options for a live stream. For more details on this, you can visit the section of the Airtime Pro manual.
Step 5: Make playlists and use smart locks
Now you have completed setting up your show, you should begin adding content. To do this, you should begin to fashion out a playlist in your “Dashboard”. The playlist is going to appear on the right-hand side of the menu and when you click on it, a new playlist will show up on the right-hand side of your screen. If this happens, you select a name for the playlist, add a description and move the uploaded audio files from the dashboard into the playlist. Once you save it, you will now have a playlist file you can use over and over again for different shows as you like.
Another handy Airtime Pro feature for enhancing your radio shows is smart-blocks. Smart-blocks make use of the smart radio automation software to create playlists based on set criteria. If you want to create a playlist, you should visit the Library and locate the ‘open media builder’ button. Click on it and select the ‘new’ button. You will notice a drop-down menu and from there, select ‘new smart block’. When the screen appears, choose the criteria such as BPM, genre and range of dates that will set out tracks the smart block will be able to generate at set dates.
Step 6: Add content to your show
If you want to add content to the show you have created, click the “Calendar” option, your scheduled show will appear with the scheduled time. If you click on your show, some options will appear. Click on Add/Remove Content, a list of scheduled tracks will appear, then effect the change you want.
Step 7: Live broadcasting
You can add live broadcasts, whether you want to have a reporter on the street giving an account of live events or interview guests, introduce songs and transmit live events. It’s easy to set up, thanks to the Rocket Broadcaster integration which makes it easy to go live with just one click.
Step 8: Promote your internet radio station
One thing is to set-up your radio station; another thing is to get listeners to tune in to it. This is where social media comes in to help. Open a social media account such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. introduce strategies that will convert social media users to become your fans.
Read Also: How to Start a Digital Marketing Business
Work to connect to online influencers. Make use of the social media to connect to online influencers in your niche, either related to music and/or the subject of the content you are sharing..
There are many ways you can use influencers to promote your station. One way is to use an interview with the influencer to connect your station. This might be that the influencer is likely to share the interview on their own social media platform, and in the process linking their followers to your page.. While the interview is ongoing, there are chances that you could tweet some important quotes arising from the interview and tag the influencer’s Twitter account; this added benefit will be shared with their fans.
Run your event
To further promote your radio station, you can organise and run your event. It may not be easy at the initial stage, but if you happen to have the capacity, do it for your benefit. It is possible to organise, for instance, a concert and broadcast it live to those unable to attend in person. Choose a local venue that will attract as many people as possible; it will go a long way to stamp your radio station in the minds of your target audience.
How to make Money from Internet Radio
Except you just want to operate an online radio as a charitable organization, you will like to make money through the internet radio. Even, if you are running it as a charitable venture, you still need to know how to generate cash that will help you sustain it.
So, how do you make money from your internet radio? Below are some of the ways that your online radio can generate revenue for you:
Sell Ad Spots: The popular way by which online radio generates income is by selling ad spots. However, before you can start making money from selling ad spots, you must have grown your listeners base. For people or businesses to show interest in placing adverts on your radio, they need to be convinced that the ads will reach their target audience.
Sponsorship: Do you have special programmes that you run on your online radio? You can approach corporate organizations for sponsorship. What will the corporate organizations get in return? You will need to constantly mention their names in the course of the program. Also, you will display their banners on the segment of your website where the programme is mentioned.
Donations: I mentioned that even if your online radio is not for profit making, you still need to know how to generate revenue. With the advent of various online payment processors such as Skrill, PayPal, and Stripe, you can accept donation online.
Sales of Branded Merchandise: You can sell branded merchandise to your listeners. This revenue source is good for online radio that has other online presence such as websites, Facebook and Instagram pages.
Sell Air Time: You can sell chunks of time to other people or organization. When you listen to radio, it is either you tune in to listen to a particular program. Not all these programmes are organized by the owner of the radio. Some organizations have good programmes that they want to air and all what they need is the platform through which they can let their target audience listen to them. You can sell air time to this kind of people to generate income.
Affiliates: You can make income through your internet radio by becoming an affiliate. Though the online radio may not make money directly through this method, it will serve as a platform through which you can generate awareness about the products that you sell. You will need a website for this. What you need to do is to direct traffic to the website. When people buy from the affiliate links on the website, you will earn income based on the affiliate program payout agreement.
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SWOT Analysis of Internet Radio Business
Before you decide on starting an internet radio business, let’s analyze the business further by using the tool called SWOT Analysis. Essentially, SWOT Analysis helps you look determine your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. If you can identify your strengths, you will want to maximize them so that you can use them to your advantages. Your strengths are usually internal to you, therefore, you have control over them. On the other hands, your weaknesses are your weak points. They are also internal. That means you can take deliberate steps to overcome them. Opportunities are external factors that can be beneficial to your internet radio business if you choose to explore them. Threats are those external factors which can mitigate the success of your mini supermarket. You don’t have control over them. Therefore, you need to develop a strategy that can help your business succeed with them.
So, what are the possible strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of online radio? Let’s look at them below:
Strengths
High Entry Barrier: If wishes were horse, beggars will ride. Internet radio is not a type of business that everybody can just wake up to set up. There are certain requirement including the capital requirements which may make it difficult for the business to be flooded,
Experience: If you have prior experience on how to run radio business, this will be an advantage to you.
Trained Staff: Even though you are starting small, there is tendency for you to hire people who will be working for you. You need people who can produce good content.
Limited Competition: Having researched your target market, you realised that there are limited competition.
Large Followers: For people with a large followers on social media such as FaceBook and Twitter, it will be easier to quickly spread information about the internet radio. Also, people can easily buy into your programmes because you are not new in the system.
Specialised Programmes: People are searching for information. If your content is so unique that audience can hardly find the same information elsewhere, people will always like to listen to your radio.
Weaknesses
No matter your strengths, you will still identify some weaknesses about your internet radio. Some of them may not be obvious to you. However, I will try to direct your attention to possible weaknesses your online business may have and these include the following:
Limited Startup Costs: If you don’t have enough startup capital, it may be difficult to hire capable hands that will guaranty rich content.
No Competitive Advantage: If you offer what other internet radios do, you may not have a competitive advantage over them. You are only joining the bandwagon. If your competitors can offer similar products quickly, it may be difficult for you to have loyal audience.
Less Knowledge: Whatever the business you want to invest in, you need to have adequate knowledge. Nevertheless, in case you don’t have enough knowledge, the weakness can be overcome by investing in training. You may also decide to work in radio station for some times before establishing your own.
Opportunities
As mentioned, these are external factors that can influence the growth and success of your online radio business. And these include the following:
Increased Internet Penetration: Through the use of smartphones, a large number of people now has access to the internet. It affords you to reach more audience.
Affiliates Opportunities: Establishing an affiliate relationship with existing reputable radio stations can spur the growth of your business quickly.
Development of Proprietary Products: If you have proprietary products, you can easily boost your revenue. Corporate organization like sponsoring such products.
Online Adverts: There is a growing trend in online advertisement these days. Online adverts break geographical barriers.
Threats
Social Media: Social media now allow online streaming. So, instead of advertising on internet radio, a large number of people are turning to social media influencers to advertise their products and services.
Changes in Regulations: Changes in regulations can make a business that was once profitable to become unprofitable.
Rise in Insurance Costs: A rise in insurance costs can increase your overhead costs thereby reducing your profitability.
Read Also: How to Start a Networking Marketing Business
Conclusion:
Internet radio is making waves with the expansion of infotech. Though the clutter of information on the net has made it difficult for your radio broadcast to be recognized; It is the more reason why you find a niche that is yet to be explored and promote it widely. Make your radio station exceptionally different in terms of attracting the audience by adding features and programs that give people joy.