Channel Surfing

Brandweek, Oct 30, 2000 by Kristina Feliciano

Streaming-music sites cue up an amazing playlist of songs, a variety of features and plenty of customer stickiness for advertisers.

Forget all the fuss about Napster and other potential online threats to the music industry's revenue stream. Enjoying music over the Internet doesn't have to be a moral dilemma or a legal issue. There's actually a way to package it that benefits everyone from consumers to record labels to advertisers.

It's called self-contained streaming-music sites. We're not talking tuning services that allow users to listen to a radio station using their PC. Same technology, different use. And it's not MP3s, either. These are sites such as NetRadio.com that program their own "channels" of music. Users download nothing but a media player, unless they already have one. And they get to listen to virtually any kind of music one can imagine.

For anyone who likes music--and who doesn't?--these sites are paradise. They make it possible to sample many different genres and learn about different artists, all without ever having to plunk down a nonrefundable $20 for a CD. But if the listener does like what's playing, buying the disc is an easy enough proposition. All of these sites provide convenient links to music sellers such as CDnow and Amazoncom. It's the kind of organic synergy businesses dream about.

And it's not just music retailers that stand to benefit. Advertisers of any kind can cash in. These addicting sites have a significant stickiness factor: Users want to come back for more because the content is constantly changing and the music is always evolving. So even the most mediocre of these sites is worth a look--and a listen.

NETRADIO.COM

The Point: "Go channel surfing."

Vital Statistics: Launched October 1995. Owned by NetRadio Corp., based in Minneapolis.

Target Demo: Each of the site's genres hits a different demo.

Traffic: 3 million unique listeners each month.

Content: The site's clearly stated pitch is Listen ("120 programmed music channels"); Buy ("Choose from 250,000 titles"); and Learn ("About music and artists"). And the site delivers on all three counts. All those big numbers might make things sound unmanageable, but NetRadio smartly breaks the content down. You aren't faced with 120 channels. Instead, you get 16 genres, including Jazz, Broadway/Movies, Rock, World, Comedy and Electronica/Dance. Choose Jazz, and a sub-menu appears offering a further breakdown (Acid Jazz, New Age and Jazz Rock are among the choices). Select one of these specific channels and you get a lovely, sensibly designed page that links you to that channel's music as well as other helpful content, including a note from the channel's programmer spotlighting one of the musical acts heard on the channel; background on the channel itself; background on the programmer; and programmer's picks (which include "buy now" links). The channel pages also exhort visitors to build their own music colle ctions (suggestions are conveniently provided).

Look and Feel: One of the best designed of the streaming music sites. The homepage is inviting, in a fresh powder blue with white type. It displays art nicely, if simply: There's a photo of a woman gazing upward, listening to music on a pair of headphones next to a headline that encourages visitors to "Listen up" and a link to jump right into the channels. Because the page is divided into an asymmetrical grid, ads can be placed throughout the page, not just at the top, side or bottom. So they're visible but not obtrusive. Partners Comedy Central Radio and Digital One get equal billing on the homepage with the music feature (which recently was an interview with Paul Simon reprinted from the New York Daily News).

Usability: Need Windows Media or RealPlayer G2.

Advertising Opportunities: Audio ads are available on all NetRadio.com channels; banner ads, on a specific page or on the music player itself; video ads; and e-mail newsletters. Advertisers include Oldsmobile, Microsoft and American Express.

Bottom Line: An excellent option because of its sensible design and organization; your ad will stand out without getting in the way.

SPINNER.COM

The Point: "Where music lives online."

Vital Statistics: Launched in 1996. Owned by America Online, which acquired it in May 1999, and merged with Nullsoft Inc. Based in San Francisco.

Target Demo: At-work listeners.

Traffic: Plays more than 24 million songs per week; "session" times average two hours.

Content: Offers more than 375,000 songs in rotation on 150-plus music channels. There's artist information and, of course, the option to buy what you're listening to. Search is by artist or through one of the 10 genres (such as Modern Rock or Country & Folk). Within the genres are various channels, such as Awesome '80s, Bossa Nova and Alt.Now. When you do search by artist, you don't just learn which Spinner.com channels are currently playing that artist's songs, you also are presented with options to search eBay for the artist or to buy their CDs. The player itself has helpful features, ones that warrant continued interaction. The player window provides album, artist and song information, plus a link to buy the CD now playing at Amazon.com. Spinner.com also allows you to download music, albeit for a limited playback time (after 30 days the license expires and you can no longer play the song you've downloaded). And there's music news, too.