SurferNETWORK is an Internet Broadcasting Pioneer

SurferNETWORK is one of the leading providers of complete Internet broadcasting services. SurferNETWORK has been in business since 1998, and we have created a “just like radio” experience for our radio station affiliates. With virtually unlimited bandwidth, our industrial-strength Internet broadcast solutions offer you the highest level of reliability, and are economically priced to meet your budget requirements.

We have a great deal to offer, and very satisfied customers.

Why broadcasters stream on the Internet

1. The most important reason is to reach your P1 listeners at the office. Since uneven terrain and buildings can interfere with radio reception, an on-line broadcast is the only way to reach people at work.  Statistics show that 85% of people that listen to radio on-line do so while they are at work.  If your competitors stream and you don't, those listeners will tune in to your competition.

2. Some stations are successful in significantly increasing their audience with their Internet broadcast, while others improve their ad sales or generate Non-Traditional Revenue because of Internet streaming.

3. And, streaming is one way to compete against satellite radio -- the new threat for terrestrial broadcasters.

A lot has changed in the last couple of years – streaming is not very expensive. Most stations can stream their broadcast for a few hundred dollars a month, including digital rights payments. Many station managers are now realizing that it's hard not to get a 5:1 or 10:1 return on your streaming investment. Just keeping your P1 listeners from listening to your competitors may justify the cost.

AFTRA – the real story

Three years ago, radio stations en masse stopped streaming because of AFTRA. AFTRA is an association representing performing artists (singers, announcers, etc.) who are used by ad agencies in the creation of commercials. What everyone in the industry heard at that time was *$600* -- that somehow it was going to cost them $600 per ad that they ran if AFTRA was involved. The real story is this: artists didn’t want to miss out on the “next big thing” and negotiated new contract terms with ad agencies for commercials that would be broadcast on the Internet. AFTRA has a structured fee schedule based on the size of the audience that will see an ad. An artist might earn $300 for a day's work for an ad to be broadcast to small or mid-markets, and could earn up to $600 for an ad to be broadcast to the major markets (NY, LA). The new AFTRA Internet provision allows the artist to earn the higher pay schedule if the ad is broadcast on the Internet. Radio stations are not in any way obligated to pay anything to anybody for running commercials that use AFTRA talent. The worst that could happen is that an ad agency might request that an ad not be streamed so they don't get charged the higher rates. In any case, our ad replacement technology, which replaces the over-the-air ads with new ads, sidesteps the problem while creating new ad inventory and creating new NTR opportunities.

DIGITAL RIGHTS -- RIAA / SOUNDEXCHANGE

You've been paying performance rights to ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC all along – for the better part of a century, actually. So, really, not much is new. There has been a big flap over the RIAA / SoundExchange / CARP / Digital Millennium Act, but in the end, it's just one more invoice. Now, with the final resolution from the Copyright office and Congress, we all know the score. They get some payment, but the amount is not oppressive. 10,000 aggregate listener hours a month for a typical music station will generate a combined Digital Rights bill of about $160 a month total across the four organizations -- a talk/news/sports show will need to pay the minimums to all these organizations, which totals about $100/month. See our page on Digital Rights for more information. Nobody likes to pay, but these rates shouldn't chase you out of the business. It's really a simple question -- is it worth a few hundred a month to reach out to your P1 listeners at work, rather than having them listen to your competitors?

We can help you with your reporting requirements to make compliance relatively painless.

YOUR LONG-TERM PARTNER

SurferNETWORK has been in business since 1998. During that time we have developed every capability for an Internet Broadcast that is required by a radio station.  We can draw artist & title information from your automation system and display it on the player; we can create new ad inventory by replacing the over-the-air ad with a new one (also avoids AFTRA complications); and much, much, more. If you have any special requirements, please ask us -- we probably have done it already for someone else.

If you have any questions, please ask us – we'd like to talk to you.

GETTING STARTED

It is simple to get started. All you need is a computer with a windows operating system, remote access software like PCanywhere on the machine, an antivirus program, and a reliable high-speed connection to the Internet. You would also need to create an access to the broadcast on your web site with a "listen live" button. We provide the instructions for installing the button with the proper address to point it to (it's very easy to set up). We remotely enable and manage the service by accessing your system. Once you are ready, our end takes less than 15 minutes to test the system and go live.

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And that's why listeners and broadcasters alike say the SurferNETWORK experience is 
'JUST LIKE RADIO'.