Audacy is announcing today that it has reached an agreement with SoundStack to carry Live365 internet radio stations on the Audacy platform.
Soundstack is a platform-agnostic technology company for creators and advertisers. Audacy is a multi-platform audio content and entertainment company and one of the largest audio companies in the U.S., connecting with 200-million customers.
Live365, which is now part of Soundstack, essentially revived the small webcaster industry in 2017, after a government mandated royalty-rate hike in 2016 caused widespread disruption and potential abandonment of hobbyist and semi-pro stations. Live365, the leading small webcaster platform, shut down its operation in January 2016 (RAIN coverage HERE), resuming business in August, 2017. (RAIN coverage HERE.)
In February, 2018, Jon Stephenson — CEO of Live365 and online audio platform Empire Streaming — partnered with Rockie Thomas and Sean Lozensky to found Media Creek, which became the parent company of Live365 and Empire Streaming. (RAIN coverage HERE.)
Live365 was founded in 1999, and self-identifies as “The World’s Audio,” and reinforces its small-webcaster heritage with the tagline “Every station is made by a real human.”
All those real humans will now find their station distribution expanded to a wider platform with the Audacy arrangement. “Live365 empowers creators of all styles, and we’re excited to leverage our platform and reach to give broadcasters a home for their content and introduce them to new audiences,” said Tim Clarke, Senior Vice President of Digital Audio Content, Audacy. “This collaboration reflects our commitment to offering listeners premium audio choices and experiences and further enriches our robust content ecosystem.”
“Live365 broadcasters create amazing content – one of our primary goals is to honor their programming by helping them acquire as wide a listening audience as possible,” said Jason Stoddard, President, Live365. “Connecting them with Audacy’s vast network of millions of loyal listeners is another great way to achieve that goal while simultaneously giving Audacy a new source of entertaining, informative content.”
