Grooveshark, the largest internationally available music streaming and discovery service says Broadcast (debuting 4/24) is an innovation that allows users to create and share their own live-streaming online radio show. Similar to Radionomy and Live365, music fans and radio show personalities will use Broadcast (preview.grooveshark.com) to host listening sessions for friends, coworkers, and people all over the world.
Broadcast gives anyone the opportunity to hop on the air, hand-pick tunes to serve up, and record their own voice for listeners across the web. For the first time ever, the everyday person now has the ability to create a radio show with global reach.
Real-time chat, statistics, music suggestions, and voting for preferred requests all make broadcasting an addicting feature and a powerful tool for developing artists. Facebook and Twitter links give broadcasters and listeners the power to invite their friends from around the world to tune in for a session and chat along with other listeners in a shared listening experience.
“We’re excited to launch the first ever truly democratized radio platform, and look forward to seeing web DJ’s grow into celebrities the way YouTube has created homegrown video celebrities,” said Sam Tarantino, Grooveshark’s CEO and cofounder. “This is a major leap forward for the web, as the world now has an audio voice to complement YouTube’s video voice and Twitter’s microblogging voice. If the 20th century was characterized by terrestrial radio DJ’s, the 21st century will be characterized by viral radio DJ’s and homegrown web personalities.”
Starting a Broadcast is as simple as pressing a button, and customization features allow Broadcasts to be as unique as the users that create them. As with most of Grooveshark’s features, Broadcasts are free to create, share, and enjoy.
RBR-TVBR observation: Unlike Radionomy, there was no mention of potential ad revenue from your stream. However, Radionomy forces the users’ stations to sound like real radio—with jingles, liners and a pre-programmed playlist. It is grueling to set up if you don’t have the time. If it’s not completely finished, it won’t go live, either. Hopefully, “Broadcast” turns out to be a little more user-friendly.
