Make Money Free Online with An Internet Radio Show

Costs Associated with Online Radio Stations

• While there are options available that allow an individual to create and maintain simple and free Internet radio stations there are still costs associated with maintaining and running a station, no matter how large or small.
  Equipment, Internet access, hosting fees and potential royalty payments to record labels (stations playing any copyrighted music must pay royalties) can turn even a free online station into a monthly expense for the owner, so it is in her best interest to find sources of income to help pay the bills.
  

Ad-Based Internet Radio

• Internet radio stations can sell airtime to advertisers and play their ads during programming. For novice and smaller operations, web-based ads may work better. Programs such as Google AdSense allow anyone with a website to sign up for free and place Google-programmed ads on their station's websites.

Donations

• Many stations solicit donations from loyal listeners to help pay the bills. Companies such as PayPal allow users to set up a free account and add a "PayPal donation" button to their website.
  Listeners can then donate a set amount or the amount of their choice or sign up to donate automatically on a monthly basis, giving listeners the ability to support radio programming they enjoy.

Payola Practices

• Payola—when a band or record label pays a radio station or DJ to play its music—is illegal, as it has been dating back to the 1950s, when such scandals rocked the commercial-radio business. But it is technically legal for a band or record label to pay a station to play a song as long as the station announces that arrangement on air before playing the song, notes that the song does not constitute regular airplay, and states that the song is sponsored airtime.
  Some consider this practice, even with full disclosure, to be unethical, so a station owner should decide where she stands on this issue.

The Internet has given power back to the people: No where is this more true than with online radio. You don't need a fifty-oot antenna or any fancy equipment. In a few steps you can be up and running with your own radio station. There are a lot of reasons for starting up a radio station, and a lot of choices. Have a question? Get an answer from Online Tech Support now!

How Work and How Make Money

Instructions

1. • 1
     Find an Internet radio provider. One of the most popular is Live365.com. Sign up for an individual or pro account, which start at $9.95 a month. With a pro account, you can make money via revenue.
   • 2
     Download radio software. For instance, Live365 uses the software Studio365--a user-friendly interface that allows for mp3s, AAC and Wav files. Most importantly, these files will upload to Live365's server, so you won't have to set up a separate server for hosting audio files. The advantage of Live365 is they have the right to host copyrighted songs, so you avoid legal issues.
   • 3
     If you don't use a service like Live365, you will have to pay licensing fees out of your own pocket. Determine if a song has been licensed by ASCAP, SESAC or BMI. Contact each of these entities for licensing rights to songs. If you broadcast copyrighted material independently, you'll need to pay for the right to do so--usually a few hundred dollars for each license. This is one of the reasons people pay a monthly fee to a place like Live365--to avoid these costs. However, Liver365 can look more generic.
   • 4
     Next, you need to file a "Notice of Use of Sound Recordings under Statutory License" with the United States Copyright Office. This will allow you to play songs for a set fee per song. Note: This fee could go up in the near future (see Warning below). This new fee will apply to Live365 users as well.
   • 5
     If you're setting up an independent station, get a program like the SAM Broadcaster. Similar features to the Live365 program. It's a bit more powerful, with better EQ features, info screens (album cover, other info), as well as statistics about the number of listeners. Check out spacialaudio.com for more details.
   • 6
     If you're uploading songs to your own server, you're going to need a program like Shoutcast (Shoutcast.com). Unlike Live365, you host the show on your own server. Keep in mind that as a radio show grows in popularity, you may need to get additional server space. For some, this won't ever be a problem if the demographic is small. Download Shoutcast's Shoutcast Server application, which allows you to stream online via Shoutcast.
   • 7
     If you're only broadcasting your own songs or running a talk show, you won't have to worry about copyright issues. However, you're still going to want a fully-featured software package to run the show. For talk radio, it's important to have live broadcast capability, so you can take calls and do interviews online. Live365 and SAM can both handle live broadcasting. Icecast is another server option, good for live broadcasting.
   • 8
     Get yourself a good microphone and USB interface if your computer doesn't have a decent soundcard for inputting a mic. You can then use Winamp, Live365 or other program to record your radio program. You can also use programs like Audacity or GarageBand to edit together a podcast.