Somewhere, right now, it is night time, and somewhere, you can bet people are partying. It’s on that premise that live-streaming web radio site Awdio is built. Awdio streams live feeds from club DJs around the world, with coverage on every continent except Africa and Antarctica and has full 24/7 coverage. The site also streams events from other venues, including bars, lounges, hotels, and concert halls.
Awdio currently has music from about 60 founding venues in 15 countries including the USA, Canada, Brazil, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Bahrain, India, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia. I’ve been keeping an eye on the site for the past couple of days and there truly has been at least one venue streaming live at all hours. I was told that the site is aggressively seeking out additional partners at which to install its “AwdioBox” hardware that captures two live streams simultaneously at up to 192kpbs (one is direct from the sound deck and the other mixes ambient club sounds).
The site is free for up to 100 minutes on a “pre-subscription” pass, after that it costs EU8 per month (about US$11.75). In addition to full access to live streams, paying members get SMS text reminders of upcoming music events in their area based on the event calendar that Awdio maintains.
Awdio shares 20% of subscription revenue with clubs based on listeners, and another 10% with bands or DJs. The site offers an analytics package to clubs that allows them to monitor listener numbers in real time.
In all, Awdio is a pretty interesting take on web radio. There are a number of DJs who stream mixes live on the web (a friend of mine often DJs live in Second Life), but streaming live from clubs is something I haven’t seen done before. Will people pay for it? It’s one thing to pay a cover charge to get into a club where you’re going to be socializing with other people, but will it still be worth the cover if you don’t get the dancing?
