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I just happened to drop in at the great Doombuggies board, and lo and behold I find a three page thread on my station! I feel so special!

For anyone who is interested, I'm going to keep the station going for the next year, but sadly I had to reduce the broadcaster package I had been using for years. In the past, I specifically paid for a higher package than I really needed, in order to allow up to 100 simultaneous Basic Listeners (which are the 'free' memberships). It's true that for most of the year, it never reached that limit, but in October it was always maxed out. It was a good feeling to provide the music to a worldwide audience, and I frequently was contacted from people expressing their delight in being able to hear the great Haunted Mansion music.

Unfortunately, Live365 is stuck in a hard place, and anyone who is a broadcaster knows the fight they've been battling over royalty rates (broadcasters have access to forums that are not available to the general public, and it's there that a lot of behind-the-scenes issues, battles-and drama-that has been taking place at Live365 goes on). Many broadcasters have thrown in the towel this year and are allowing their stations to go off the air when their membership runs out, and I was one of them. The package prices (which, by the way, does not include a VIP Membership--that's a separate fee.) were essentially tripled over what broadcasters have already been paying for years, while Basic Listener caps were drastically reduced, almost to the point of ridiculousness. But I have made some sacrifices in other areas of my life to help justify keeping the station on-air, even if it means that essentially VIP Listeners are the only people who can hear it. Which, to me, is preposterous. I'm paying to play this music, and people are required to pay to listen to it…but this is the current state of internet radio, and although there have rumblings of possible positive changes ahead (like the passing of Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008 last month), there's not much I can do about it now.

Anyhoo, I didn't mean to get all soap-box-y here, but it's something I hold close to my heart. Let me wrap it up by saying it's on the air for another year, and I'm crossing my fingers that somehow Live365 and SoundExchange can come to a sensible arrangement, one that does not kill off the hobbyist broadcaster.

Thanks to everyone who has written to me and voiced their support and suggestions. It's people like you that makes keeping the station online worthwhile. And Trinitys Ghost is correct, if you sign up for a VIP Membership via my station (there's a 'Support This Station' button on the Station page), my account gets a percentage of the fee, which goes toward my operating costs. While I won't go as far as to ask people to sign up that way, it's always a nice surprise, and the money can only go into the station. (In the interest of full disclosure: having broadcasted so long, I am a 'Founding Broadcaster', and get a slight discount on services). If things go well enough, I may improve the station by adding more tracks as well as improving the bitrate. But again, I do it for the fun of it, so it will probably be around for a while. It's hard to believe that it's been online for seven years now!

Happy Haunts,

Krok

(As of this writing, my station is maxed out on the simultaneous Basic Listeners, so I apologize in advance if you cannot connect this Halloween...)

http://www.live365.com/stations/krokodyle