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Radionomy launches new listening apps for phones, announces partnerships

radionomy logo august 2014 canvasInternet radio platform Radionomy today announced the release of new iOS and Android listening apps, and distribution agreements with Samsung Smart TVs and Roku. Further, Radionomy online radio stations will be featured within the Orange Radio apps.

These announcements from Belgium-based company are timely, exactly one month after the collapse of U.S.-based competitor Live365. The two companies were tentpole destinations for fans of niche, lean-back online radio; the removal of one from the competitive landscape is part of a consolidating trend that also saw Rdio leave the field in November.

Simple Usability

radionomy app searchThe new Radionomy app seems thought-out to provide an easy-to-understand experience. A Home panel lists top featured stations. Users can dig beneath that general focus to genres using the Search function.

Search is the focal point for listeners who know, in a general way, what they want to hear. As a non-interactive service, Radionomy does not allow random-access to specific songs, or even artists. But the app recommends searching for artists or genres, and we found that to be good advice, and the key to unlocking the deep music resources on Radionomy’s platform.

Simply invoking the Search function by touching the standard magnifying-glass icon brings up Radionomy’s genre list. We wondered where that was until finding it as the front page for searching. From there, some users will abandon artist-based searches for deep dives into genres and sub-genres.

Searching for artists works much better than searching for songs. In either case you won’t get an artist or song page, but you will get stations that might play that music. So, searching for “Bruno Mars” brings up hit-radio stations. Searching for “Uptown Funk” delivers a list of funk stations. Stick to artist searches.

All in all, Radionomy’s new apps furnish a clean, addictive discovery platform. You can save stations as Favorites, making return visits pleasingly familiar and rewarding.

Brad Hill

41 Comments

  1. I would love to see some investigative reporting with factual information and “on the record” comment as to Radionomy’s royalty obligation and relationship with U.S. based PROs. They are not listed as a payee on the SoundExchange site. Nor BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC for that matter.

    Reciprocal agreements? If so, how’s that working? How much has been collected?

    If not, why is SoundExchange, et. al. seemingly hamstrung?
    Are their hands tied behind their back due to Radionomy being based in Belgium?

    This whole Radionomy caper is chock full of blind eye winks and back turned nods.

    • A station I listen to that moved from Stream Licensing to Radionomy, named Soft Rock Radio Love, posted information on February 5 about it on their chat board on their website: softrockradio.net/softrockradiolove.html

      For more details, you can email the guy that runs that station, named “SoftRock Dan”, at comments @ softrockradio.net.

      Also, an artist I like, Adult Contemporary pianist, Jim Brickman, has an official radio stream of his music and music that has inspired him, set up on Radionomy (radionomy.com/en/radio/jimbrickmanradio/index). I very highly doubt he and his record label would set up a stream on Radionomy if Radionomy was doing anything not legit.

      • Well said! As they posted on that chat board, Radionomy was recently purchased by Vivendi, which is tied to Universal Music Group and it’s various labels. That’s why I doubt any claims that Radionomy is doing anything illegal.

        • Idol Girl made a very good point. If Radionomy wasn’t paying artists, Universal Music, which is one of the 4 major label groups, would be suing Radionomy instead of partnering up with them.

      • I appreciate your attempt to shed some bona-fide light on this subject Music Lover. But “SoftRock Dan” simply posting a bolded and unauthorized disclaimer regarding all U.S. PRO licensing along with Radionomy’s vague broadcaster agreement on his website is not the type of legitimate legal certification and transparency needed here. And that ubiquitous “warm and fuzzy” act is precisely the issue here.

        Anything less than official statements by the U.S. PROs is nothing more than vapid, he said/she said finger pointing and obfuscation. Despite Radionomy having a presence (New York and recently closed satellite offices in San Francisco) in the United States they appear to be internationally immune to the guise of U.S. PRO radar.

        Per Radionomy, here’s the cliff note contradictory crux of the matter. First we have Radionomy’s icon gilded elevator pitch on their website to potential broadcasters:

        “We have got you covered. We cover ALL the music licensing necessary to stream online. You just program the music and content you love.”

        OK, yay you say. Erm, not so fast. Let’s take a peek at Radionomy’s deep and dark fine print:

        Users are entirely and exclusively liable for the content of their contribution(s) and the consequences of its being broadcast on the Site. On this subject, Radionomy has the role of a technical intermediary and host only. The users have contractually guaranteed Radionomy that they own all the rights and have all necessary authorizations for reproduction and communication to the public on the Site, as concerns copyright, related rights, intellectual property rights, use rights, and in a general way they guarantee Radionomy against any third-party action.
        ———————————————————-
        Ergo, that’s THEIR keenly crafted boiler plate “get out of jail free” card. As for Soft Rock Dan, should push come to shove, they (Radionomy) clearly have notified him that… HE is on his own.

        Meanwhile and frankly more importantly we have the revenue vacuum of thousands of U.S. internet stations defecting to “unreachable” international waters.

        Talk about ghost ships. Ahoy Ronan O’Rahilly all over again!

          • Really? Sorry “dude”, it looks like a few folks (major record labels) beyond myself disagree.

          • That’s not about Radionomy, but about his disclaimer, dude.

          • I side with them that his disclaimer is not considered “unauthorized”.

          • This is another station I listen to that moved from Live365 to Radionomy when Live365 went out of business. (milwaukeesmagic.wordpress.com/playlists/home/)

            As I mentioned below, their website gives some addresses that people can contact regarding licensing questions.

            These are the addresses:

            In The United States: 33 East 33rd Street, Suite 801 New York, NY 10016, United States

            In Europe: WTC Airport B Tower 5th Floor, Schiphol Boulevard 231, 1118 BH Amsterdam Schiphol, Netherlands

        • Here’s the deal:

          Radionomy hosts channels and inserts adverts to pay for revenue and follow licenses. But not all of those 50,000 channels are hosted by Radionomy, but are individuals or other agencies who may not care about licenses being able to appear in the Radionomy search. And that’s when the problem comes in so kill the search provider.

          Hollywood isn’t happy that they index channels that don’t pay licenses but are listed in the search… And instead of going after those channel providers individually, they are going after the main service.

          The stations that Music Lover, Soft Rock Chick, and Idol Girl have listed are ones that obeyed the rules and do have their stations set up for licensing because they use the advertising in their streams.

          • Thank you Billy Bob. The stations that the three of us have mentioned are legit but there are others, as the saying goes, who are like bad apples spoiling the whole bunch.

          • You’re welcome. This lawsuit attempts (successfully, based upon comments I’ve seen, both here and on other blogs) to conflate Vivendi’s hosted channels with the entirety of their Shoutcast channel listings. The vast majority of Shoutcast channels accessible through their protocol are hosted by users, not by any Vivendi machine.

            The only “service” they could honestly be said to offer are those stations which Vivendi hosts on their own servers, which are subject to copyright flags & are frequently pulled from their hosting service if violation is detected.

            Most of the search results are actually user’s own stations, hosted on user’s own machines, the content of which cannot (nor should be) controlled by Vivendi.

            This goes beyond content blocking & attempts to require that search providers somehow filter every listing based upon the content provided, something they have no practical method of knowing. They would have to monitor the audio output of every Shoutcast station in their listings (an enormous quantity of frequently untagged audio data), analyze it & compare to a (non-existent) database of all copyrighted audio.

            Listing does not equal hosting & their actual hosted channels *are* susceptible to DMCA. This lawsuit is an attack on the right to promote public communication.

    • Radionomy is a Belgium-based streaming service, not a royalty collection service. SoundExchange, which lacks independence as evidenced by its Board, is a US-based royalty authority, and the copyright and performance laws in the US are quite different from the rest of the world. The current controversy stems in part from use of Radionomy’s music library, which apparently pays royalties to the Belgian organization. Webcasters streaming outside of Belgium are likely responsible for their own royalty payments to their respective organizations.

      The alleged lawsuit (if one actually has been filed) proposes that Radionomy is responsible for the actions of its webcasters. Radionomy provides streaming services. Holding them liable would be like holding the city water company liable if your neighbor’s kid drowns in your backyard swimming pool.

      For years we have heard from independent artists that they receive little or no money from SoundExchange. The payment system at SE appears to be weighted toward the brand labels and major artists.

    • Correction.
      They are not listed as a payor on the SoundExchange site. Nor BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC for that matter.

    • It’s exactly as Soft Rock Chick and Idol Girl pointed out above. They aren’t pirates because of the fact the Universal Music is partnered with them.

  2. Another thing, according to this article, Radionomy does have an agreement with SoundExchange. evolver.fm/2012/09/18/radionomy-get-paid-for-being-awesome-at-music/

    Since the SoundExchange deal was reported across the tech press, so I don’t doubt it’s veracity.

    I, personally, looked through their producer’s agreement information on their forum. They mention a company called SABAM. A Google search revealed that SABAM is SoundExchange’s equivalent in Belgium and that SABAM has reciprocal agreements with other collection agencies.

    • The trouble with quotes on the Internet is that you can never know if they are genuine.

      • Depends on how reliable the source is. I would consider a tech site to be reliable.

  3. Until news of a lawsuit is reported on a reliable tech site (such as this one) or on a mainstream news source (such as CNN), anything about them not being legit is nothing more than vapid, he said/she said finger pointing and obfuscation.

    • According to the US District Court N. Calif. records, Radionomy is in fact being sued for copyright infringement. I have personally verified this via a court records search.

      And I’m confident it will indeed begin to show up on “reliable” sites much to your liking or chagrin. Though I’d consider US District Court records the most reliable source you’ll find.

      Now, as to you using my “vapid” quip, that’s my intellectual property. Should you need or want to continuing using it; my rates are very reasonable. LOL 😉

      • Last paragraph was soooo funny I forgot to laugh.

  4. This is the Facebook page of station I listen to that moved from Live365 to Radionomy. facebook.com/milwaukeesmagic/posts/715964188540255

    I question the legitimacy of a supposed “news” article on a site like TorrentFreak, considering the fact that many torrent sites are illegal. Like Soft Rock Chick, I also consider such things as gossip until they show up on a more legit source of news.

    • That Magic Online station is playing again, so they aren’t off the air, as mentioned in the Facebook post, nor on their website. milwaukeesmagic.wordpress.com/playlists/home/

      BTW, their website gives some addresses that people can contact regarding licensing questions.

  5. Well…the alleged Radionomy skulduggery/buffoonery is starting to blow up the internet. You heard it here first folks! 😉

    • Big Music wants to destroy the Internet. Same play they’ve been at since the Internet happened.

  6. Now the news is officially official. rainnews.com/sony-labels-file-royalty-payment-lawsuit-against-radionomy/

    • What…no love/kudos for me here?

      I did after all prompt/offer the media to pursue an “official” investigation of this caper; like…yesterday. :hugs:

        • Hmmm…Really? Your (collective) reproach is confounding. I reckon it’s true that no noble deed goes unpunished. [sigh]

          • It’s exactly as Billy Bob mentioned in his post. Sony is punishing everyone for the actions of a few.

      • American media is too obsessed with Donald Trump at the moment. Ugh!

  7. Radionomy, an online radio platform, announced a new mobile app today, available on iOS and Android. The service allows users to start their own radio stations and offers rewards to those who gain a large following.

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