The radio landscape in South Australia is broken, and this has a huge impact on our live music industry.

Our major commercial stations import most of their content from interstate - especially their music playlists - and play barely any local music. We have some great community radio stations, but they're often spread too thinly or limited by licensing restrictions to be able to dedicate themselves to supporting the local live music scene in the way it deserves.

play / pause / play is a project to address this by establishing a new internet radio station that focuses on music relevant to South Australians. 100% Australian music with a big focus on new releases, artists based in Adelaide and artists performing here soon - whether they're playing at the Grace Emily, Thebarton Theatre or WOMADelaide.

Adelaide has a reputation as being a sleepy town, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Amazing artists are performing in Adelaide every week, and I want to share and celebrate that.

Test Rotation - live now!

Thanks to a small grant from the City of Adelaide, a trial period of the station is currently running. You can tune in to the Test Rotation now at playpauseplay.com.

The Test Rotation will give you an idea of some of the features the station would have going forward, including heaps of new Aussie music with a big focus on South Australian artists and upcoming touring acts, gig guides and Artist Messages. It's still a bit rough around the edges, but I'll continue to fine-tune things over the course of this campaign.

The web player - now live at playpauseplay.com 

The station

Like most major radio stations, play / pause / play will use radio scheduling and automation software to run. I will manually enter every song into the rotation, and set the parameters to make sure the most relevant music is on high rotation - artists playing in Adelaide this week, brand new music, etc - ensuring a good mix of South Australian music, as well as a balance of gender identity and ethnicity.

Instead of hosts, listeners will hear Artist Messages - artists introducing their own music, gaining insight into the creative process while being kept aware of any opportunities to catch a live performance - as well as regular gig guide spots for specific venues.

The aim is to have something that's constantly updated and ready when you are, 24/7, at the press of a button. 

I see play / pause / play as an audio gig guide. One of the biggest issues with every gig guide that has existed before - whether online or in print - is that you have to read it. It has to take the majority of your focus. With play / pause / play, you can have it on in the background. Keep up-to-date with the latest Australian music and upcoming Adelaide gigs while commuting, while you're at work, while you're doing the dishes or playing videogames.

Artist Messages

The average listener will give a song seven seconds before changing the station. We can drastically increase that by giving them a reason to stick around. Artists can submit short Artist Messages to be played before their song. Talk about your lyrics, the recording process and, of course, mention any upcoming gigs.

Get more info on Artist Messages here.

Research

You may have seen a survey I put out a few months back to gauge interest in this idea. The survey saw 400 responses within two days, with heaps of support for the project.

Some key points:

• 96% of people said they need to be familiar with an artist before going to see them perform.
• 30% of people said that play / pause / play would probably become their go-to station, with another 40% saying they would likely add it to their listening mix.
• Around 25% of people said they'd definitely support a crowdfunding campaign to make the station a reality, and nearly 50% more said they'd consider it with more info.
• When asked how much they would chip in to a crowdfunding campaign, the total from around 300 people came to more than $16,000.

There is heaps of support in the community for this project. Now it's time to make it happen.

Obligatory Station Dogs photo

More content

There is a lot more planned, but it ultimately depends on funding. Some plans covered in stretch goals are:

• Regular podcasts of new releases, this week's gigs and interviews with local artists and music industry
• Making gig guide spots into short videos for social media
• Making Spotify/Apple Music playlists of music from artists playing in Adelaide soon
• Supporter Song Picks segments, where Supporters can pick a song and record a clip to tell the world why that song or artist is important to them
• Producing and hosting live showcase gigs

It's relatively cheap to make most of this happen, but it takes a lot of time. Time is money, and since music licensing fees are determined based on revenue, costs start to pile up on top of each other.

To achieve all of that and maintain a viable business, I'd need around $120,000 per year. Around 35% of that would go to music licensing, then marketing costs, followed by a handful of other software and hardware costs, then insurances and such before wages.

As such, I anticipate doing much of this as a volunteer. The full money breakdown is in the Budget Overview section below, but the campaign will have three stages: the Initial Target [$10,000, I work on the station in my spare time], Stretch Target 1 [$30,000, I work on the station part-time] and Stretch Target 2 [$50,000, I work on the station full-time].

Stretch Goals

The initial target for this campaign will cover music licensing and app fees for six months. At the initial target, I won't receive any pay for my time [but lots of artists wll get paid royalites]. Music licensing fees increase as revenue increases, meaning it's a long way before I can fully devote myself to this project.

If we hit the Initial Target, we'll aim for Stretch Goals, which will incorporate the items listed on 'More Content' above, as follows:

Initial Target [$10,000]

• The station will run for six months, including a regularly updated music rotation, Artist Messages and gig guides.
• Official Supporters will get thanks on social media and on-air, as well as being able to send in Station IDs to get their voice on-air, too.
• Artist Supporters will get all their Adelaide gigs shared on our social media accounts, plus a complimentary two-week advertising package [minimum 20 spots per week] to promote a major event or release within the six month operating period.
  NOTE: This applies only to advertisments you produce. Production by play / pause / play will incur extra costs.
• Super Supporters can choose five songs and submit recordings of them introducing the songs, explaining why these songs are important to them
  NOTE: play / pause / play reserves the right to make editorial decisions on playlist content. I'll work with you to make sure your selections meet our quality and content guidelines [not heaps of unnecessary swearing, no hate speech, etc.]

Mini-Stretch Target [$15,000]

• We'll add video content to live-streams and podcasts!

Stretch Target 1 [$30,000]

I can work on the station part-time for six months to create more content:

• Creating and updating Spotify & Apple Music playlists of music from artists performing in Adelaide soon.
• I'll host a weekly show of the most popular songs of each week as voted on our phone apps.
• BONUS REWARD: Official Supporters can pick one song per month and submit a recording of themselves introducing the song, talking about why it's special to them. This song, with the intro, will go into the general rotation to be played at random.
  NOTE: play / pause / play reserves the right to make editorial decisions on playlist content. I can't guarantee that your song will definitely get played and can't let you know ahead of time.

Stretch Target 2 [$50,000]

I can work on the station full-time for six months to create more content:

• Videos created for gig guide spots for social media
• Regular podcasts of new releases, this week's gigs and interviews with local artists and music industry
• Regular updates on the stream included in newsletters and social media, such as which songs are getting added to the rotation
• We'll throw a gig with some of the stream's most popular artists
• BONUS REWARD: Official Supporters will get discounted tickets and Super Supporters will scroe free tickets!

Reaching those stretch targets would be huge, but if we somehow get stacks more than that, we'll run the whole thing for twelve months, which would be gamechanging for the Adelaide live music scene.

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FAQs

Are you paying artists for using their music?

Yes! The station is fully licensed by APRA and the PPCA. Every time an artist is played, they will get paid for it. 

Will you broadcast on FM/DAB+?

I'd love to, but aside from costing tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars in broadcasting equipment, there's literally no room on the FM spectrum in South Australia for new stations.

Will you run advertising?

Most likely, yes, though exactly what that looks like remains to be seen. I don't expect there to be many ads in the short-term until there's some solid listener numbers, and even then it's often more cost-effective to run ads on social media. Longer-term, I'd like to be running ads for events happening in South Australia and opportunities for artists, but I still don't see much past that. That said, if you've got an idea, get in touch.

How can people access the stream?

You can listen on any device at playpauseplay.com. We've also just released free phone apps on iOS and Android.

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About me:

My name is Luke Penman, and I've been kicking around the South Australian music scene for about 15 years. From all-ages shows in the beer garden of The Austral to studying at Music SA, dabbling in artist management, blogging and podcasting before winding up at community station Radio Adelaide. I was there for five years as a volunteer and staff member, working in the music team and hosting the local music program, Local Noise. I interviewed hundreds of local artists on the weekly show before moving the program to the morning slot, where I produced and presented the three-hour show five days a week for 12 months. I first had the idea of making play / pause / play into an internet radio station in late 2015, and now it's time to press play.

Money raised from this campaign will help cover some costs to run the station for six months [July to December 2018].

The funds will primarily be used to pay for music licensing - meaning artists getting paid royalties for their music getting played.

There's two main variables in the budget calculation:

1. Music licensing costs can increase sharply depending on station revenue per quarter [up to 55%+ of Total Revenue].
2. Pledges can range from a basic Supporter [ie. no cost of goods sold] to a package including a t-shirt and stubby holder [which cost money to produce].

Approximate breakdown of Initial Target [$10,000] is as follows:

Music licensing: up to 55% of Total Revenue generated per quarter [ie. $5500]

Cost of merchandise production [estimate, depends on rewards selected]: $2500

App fees for six months: $800

Pozible fees [5%]: $500

Payment processing [$0.30 per transaction + 1.75%] [estimate]: $265

Hitting the target of $10,000 will mean pretty much no money in my pocket [but, on the plus side, plenty of artists will be receiving royalties.]

See the Stretch Goals above for a breakdown of how any money received above the Initial Target will be spent.

The main challenge will be finding the time to keep this running while working to pay the bills. That's why I'm only committing to a six-month run unless funding greatly exceeds the Initial Target.