I have been considering resurrecting the idea of GOTH.NET Radio. I've been testing it the last few days.

I am wondering who would be interested in something like this. There is a caveat - to get it going legally, it would cost GOTH.NET a about $1200/year to the various licensing agencies we would need to pay for the umbrella licenses. So this is a significant commitment on my part. Add to this, that I would then want to solicit DJ's from around the world to do sets on GN radio. These could be live (including requests), pre-scheduled or 'themed + request' sets, however in any case, it would require a commitment to perform each set at your required time! It would also mean I would have to purchase 'DJ Seat licenses' for the radio broadcasting software I use (which BTW is really cool), though this would be a one-off expense.

What is your take - would you listen to it? Would you like to DJ on it (could you actually commit to it, as I don't want 'dead air')?

Oh that sounds like it'd be really cool, I'd definitely be interested in listening!
I don't know anything about DJing unfortunately, though I would love to.

I've sent you a PM, PreZ.

Answering for me:

Listen: yes.
DJ: Would love to, can commit for a future time this year.

Can also suggest: kickstarter (for funds) and posting that and a radio station link on many of the FB goth-oriented pages, where lurk many goths who sit at their desks day and night.

Yay, another potential DJ!

I would LOVE to DJ, however my busy work and band schedule at the moment prevents me from making further commitments.
I had to quit writing for Heathen Harvest yesterday due to this problem.

I'd still be interested in doing special "guest spots" though now and then, if you'd be interested in having rare neofolk, dark ambient, black metal, post-industrial, or some other kind of "rare" sets.

I'd love to hear some of that, myself. Sometimes, just sometimes, I want something more from industrial/dark electronic music in general than some girl moaning into the mic, "Pleasssssssee! FUCK ME! FUCK ME HARDER!"

I would love to listen to it! DO IT!


orlok: Hahah, what? I only hear 'ohh baby baby' in the background

Yes, ittybittybat, there is more to industrial than that. Just like how there's a Santa Claus.


For those who don't get the reference, I'm playing on the line, "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" from......http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SwahwY7I1E

For those interested in DJing, here is some info. Please bear in mind this is all hypothetical at this time.

Shows

GOTH.NET will allow for two kinds of shows:

• Live shows where you are actively choosing which song(s) to play next. You can (but don't have to) take requests on these shows, and you may at your option talk (also not required) to the audience.
• Pre-Scheduled shows where the set list has been pre-determined before the show. It is the DJ's responsibility to ensure the set is long enough to fill their time slot, but not too long.

Each show will last for 3 hours, and will likely be recorded for either archival or re-broadcasting purposes (eg. we may decide to re-broadcast a show 12 hours later to allow people in other time zones to enjoy it). So make sure you can commit the three hour block for your show, each week!. You may opt to do more than one show a week (even one a day if you can commit to it).

I will also possibly entertain a less music-based set (eg. interview with an artist intermixed with their songs, a podcast, or something like). We will also have the ability to simulcast another program if that is appropriate. But for now, I am sticking with the above two show types.

And yes, guest spots may be able to be organized, however I will have to work out how that will work with my software licensing (having a 'guess license', and other configuration details and such.) I will strongly prefer regular slots though (even if not once a week).

Obviously all sets must be of interest to the Goth scene (goth, industrial, and related music).

Money

All DJing will be done on a volunteer basis. Right now, I do not expect GOTH.NET Radio to ever actually be able to cover it's costs. In future I may introduce advertisements to shows (however I will try and keep this rather unobtrusive, just as I have on the GOTH.NET site itself). Another way GOTH.NET will attempt to recoup some of it's costs will be through purchases made via. it's Amazon associate account.

The radio program has a number of costs associated with it. These include licensing costs from ASCAP, BMI and SoundExchange - each of which has a minimum annual amount that must be paid regardless of any money earned or how many listeners we had. In addition to this there is bandwidth, which for now, GOTH.NET has enough to spare where this is not presently an issue, however it is a consideration if we get a lot of listeners. In addition, the more revenue made or listeners we get, the costs also increase. Not to mention my 'book keeping' time, since each of these organizations requires reports on tracks played by the radio stations, and how many listeners there were to that track being played at least monthly or quarterly.

If the radio, through some freak of nature, managed to actually become profitable, money earned (after all expenses) would be shared back with the DJ's involved - however the formula for this will be determined if and only if we are approaching profitability on the radio station.

Tools

The software that will be used by DJ's is called SAM Broadcaster by Spacial Audio. There are a number of reasons I have chosen this, including:

• I can obtain DJ licenses under my own license, making it easy to get the software to my DJs.
• It has a very powerful scripting language and scheduler built in, allowing for massive flexibility and customization in how it operates (including making DJ transitions easier)
• It is database-based, which allows me to have direct access to the underlying data.
• It will both generate web content and interact with a website, enabling things like requests, and album art and such on the radio website. It will even automatically upload content as required.
• It allows easy adding/augmenting of meta-data (including a 'find on amazon', to get information, and fill in the 'buy this CD' information with GOTH.NET's amazon associate ID).
• It has great audio routing abilities, support for multiple inputs and outputs, and lets you lay out things however you like.
• It has all the reporting features I need to be able to both get statistical information, as well as generate required reports for licensing agencies.

This software will be provided for free as long as you remain a DJ with GOTH.NET (I will incur the cost of the DJ licenses). There will also be some specific configuration and setup instructions provided by me. Some of the required stuff is still yet to be written, but it will all work out. The software, however, does require Microsoft Windows to run.

GOTH.NET radio will be operating with 3 'streams' - the same data on each stream, being low, medium and high quality streams - right now these are at 64kbit, 128kbit and 256kbit (though this may be a little high for internet radio). This means that the DJ must be able to support streaming all 3 at once to GOTH.NET (which will then re-broadcast the chosen stream to listeners) - so at the current levels, that means you need at least 450kbit/s outbound bandwidth.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

How exciting!



Not volunteering as a DJ, but I think that maybe I can hook you up with some interviewees.

-- Nephele

450kbits/s? The highest I can get is 135. I'll have to spend time on this one.

I'd definitely listen at least a couple times a week (depending on what's on, of course), and I can definitely volunteer up to three shows a week, any free block between Noon and 2amEST (GMT-0500). I looked over the requirements, my computer can run the software (at least, I'm 99% certain it can) and my connection speed meets the minimum.

If we're picking themes as DJs, I want to be "the weird one".

I guess if we're able to do prerecorded sets, I'd definitely be able to do that, since it would be difficult for me to be available live every week, and also due to the time difference. As for music, it would be "everything dark" in my case: gothic rock, darkwave, deathrock, medieval/pagan folk, dark neoclassical, neofolk, post-industrial, black/death/doom metal, dark ambient, martial industrial, crust punk, experimental noise, occult ritual recordings, horror movie soundtracks, etc.

I would like to hear that, but 3 hours per week is a little bit to much for me to become a DJ here. 30-40 songs per week is a lot, if someone wants quality. I would prefer a set of radioshows which could be downloaded individually by the listeners.

Good luck with your project.