Awdio Brings Cool Live Music Wherever You Are. Special TechCrunch Invitations
Ouriel Ohayon
43 comments »
While online music startups and most labels are trying to figure new rules for their business models, a small UK based startup has found a smart way to answer that question. Nearly all music services are based on providing access to a catalogue of recorded music whether it is on demand (eg: iTunes or Deezer) or on discovery mode (Pandora/Last.fm). But a big chunk of the quality music is not recorded and is played live in clubs, fashion hotels, restaurants, shops, DJ festivals and other cool places (i leave aside radio music). This music usually ends up in CD collections because of its quality and uniqueness (think of the Buddha Bar collection, the Cafe del Mar and many more). And this is the music Awdio wants to provide you in real time wherever you are, 24/7, as long as you have an internet connection.
Awdio™ revolutionizes the way you listen to music! Real Time Music! What everyone can get now in one weekend is what music addicts would get in a year, touring around world’s best Live music sources… Straight from the sound systems of the most respected clubs, venues, hotels, shops, studios & festivals… from Electronic Music to Hip Hop, from new Jazz scenes to alternative Rock, from Lounge sessions to the most underground Dj sets, wherever you are, whatever you like, Awdio™ provides pure Live music. From San Francisco to Melbourne, New York to Paris, Sao Paulo to Hong Kong, Awdio™ is streaming 24/7 real time music content, from and on worldwide time zones.
Awdio spots the coolest places around the globe where live music is played and makes exclusive agreement to distribute and stream it live in real time. They gathered so far 50 hotspots like the super trendy Colette Shop in Paris, the 1015 in San Francisco or the Favela in London. They have created a technology that enables any live music source to be streamed over the internet with high quality sound. The Awdio Listener simply has to register and browse the selection of audio channels by time zone or by name. A Station on air can be easily noticed with a small ticker. Once you chose your station the music is played directly via a desktop player (for now only iTunes and WMP). But in future versions you will be able to choose alternative players created by Awdio (web based i guess).
The business model is simple and smart. Listeners will pay a subscription for an unlimited access (9 euros/month or 54 euros a year). They become then “Awdio Addict Members” and will also have a personal space with relevant information according to their tastes (will include an electronic program guide) integrated in a social network. There will be a free ad-supported alternative and Awdio has built around their service an advertising platform that will enable brands to easily (geo)target users and offer them free “AwdioTime”. Right Now the music is streamed via your desktop player so i am not sure what kind of ad formats we are talking about. In their agreement with the music sources, Awdio takes in charges all the fixed and variable costs and pays sources 20% of the total income (based on the prorata time of each station) and an additional 10% for the performance of any guest artist. In addition partners will have access to a full dashboard soon available in order to get reporting and better knowledge of their “fans”.
I like the idea and the execution is good. I think this will be a nice additional revenue source for live music sources but also a cool experience for those who enjoy those places right from their living room. I wish one day they will extend the experience to video so you can fully enjoy the moment. I also wonder whether one day they give access to archives which would be great.
Although the project is based in the UK, most of the team is French and has extensive experience both in the music industry and the content delivery business. Awdio is financed by the designer Ora-Ito, you can feel his influence in the slick design of the website. I have tried the service and i must say it is of pretty good quality although this is a very early release. A new version with lots of new features (for streaming, browsing and interacting) will be up by the end of the month.
Special Invitations: TechCrunch readers can already enjoy the service using the registration key TechCrunch (respect the case). You will have free unlimited access until the new version comes up. So hurry up
wow, Thanks for the information.
Agreed - this sounds very cool!
er…at the risk of looking stupid… I couldn’t get the code to work. I just got directed to a “you’re registered for beta page” and I haven’t been able to preview the site.
@warren: it’s “TechCrunch”
@Ouriel: great service, i am already fan of it ! thanks for the invite and tip ! listenning to FavellaChic
It’s quite annoying that in today’s on demand world I can’t even search for an artist that I like! I’d love to see if they have MSTRKRFT DJ sets or even someone bigger like Justice, but I am stuck listening to what amounts to a lame radio station.
Indeed, I got the same thing, warren - put on a waiting list.
Oops, and there’s the real email with access info - my bad!
Anyone remember Clubcastlive.com? They did this in 1999, for about 3 months before running out of cash due to lack of interest. I remember I made a load of changes to icecast and liveIce to make this work for them and they sent me a load of (now worthless) stock.
Nooo! A Flash-only site! I can’t use my Opera Mini! *cry*
hope this promo code will be valid tomorrow…
Great idea… pity about the Flash based site.
correction…eventually received confirmation email and invite.. thanks!
Pretty nifty (they’ve got Hotel Costes yay). The site is flash, and while the preview you get is in-site, one you register you can load the playlist in whichever player you like.
Great idea - requires LOTS of cash for marketing, bandwidth, and rights.
Good luck to Awdio.
“Back to Basis”? Clever pun I don’t understand or ESL?
Ah. “Clever” pun I didn’t understand.
can’t get it to work.
the previews dont make noise, and the listen page is blank after i login. i use safari.
I like the idea. Though not a big music fan…
Sounds cool, but I don’t think people will cough up cash to listen to a bunch of DJ sets streamed over the internet. I may be wrong though - Europeans do love dance music. In any case, I think Awdio would be interesting as an AIR app.
Excellent idea, well executed by getting some well recognised Paris hotspots on board too. I had a similar idea many years ago but never got around to it. But the bandwidth charges in the UK may kill them.
Truly fab, good luck to them, I will be listening
It’s great going out and having a blast of a night at a club. Now you have the option to listen all your favourite live DJ sets in the comforts of your own home. Great!
Started using this service and love it. Excellent!!!
Oh man, trying it right now. This is fantastic.
Very creative…that is what im talking about!!!
This is cool and original! Where can I invest?
can’t get it to work. I press the PLAY-button, open the file with VLC (or WMP) and a small HTTP authentication window appears. but it does not accept my Login or my password……
This isn’t a “tech” idea at all. All it is is an online aggregator of live music. It took absolutely zero technological innovation to pull this off. I could create a website that features all live dog tricks, and call it Dawgio.
Hello All,
The Awdio team is very pleased with your comments and enthousiasm…
Just a few things to enlight your qestions:
Ora-ïto is not just an investor; he is the co-founder of the company that is based in Paris from now on!!!
Pleased excuse our poor English; a new Editor in Chief just came into the adventure and the whole new site will look much better.
Also, priority is given to quality programming as well as the quality of the flux on offer. Comfort and simplicity for navigation are very important to Awdio. As are cultural diversity and unique content! Awdio favours the plurality of cultures, their means of expression, and values rich content without ad breaks, with respect for the wishes and artistic individuality of all its partners. So, do not hesitate to submit a Source if you know of some unique place!
Awdio provides the guarantee to its partners that all legal broadcasting conditions and international royalty rights are respected, (all live sessions and DJ sets), royalty fees are distributed to authors, composers and performers that are broadcast on the site. All the partners and contributors (Sources, Live Bands, Djs) are commissioned, they have unlimited access in real time to the audience statistics as well as the financial turnover.
That’s it for now….
LISTEN…
flavio
This service is AWESOME.
Really amazing. I love it!
sounds like a potential winner.
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http://www.xencasino.com
@Brad, clearly this isnt the site for you, no need to trash it then. If you want on-demand MSTRKRFT, there are other places for you to go.
@Scott Manley - now that’s very interesting, heh
I love this though, hard to tell how sticky it will be but I don’t think it’s impossible.
Awdio is powered by the open source Icecast http://www.icecast.org/ server (the one that stream Internet radios since 1999!), What the difference with radio streaming, except the flash package (powered with AMFPHP, open source!)?
@Scott Manley : you got 3 month to apply there for some stocks !
Uoups, I missed that one!
Quote
“They have created a technology that enables any live music source to be streamed over the internet with high quality sound”
Come on, it’s an icecast server ! It’s an open source server !
awesome, thanks techcrunch
Thanks! Love the service.
If anyone here have one invitation code free, I’m glad in receive. hhahahahaah