The DJ Redefined – Mediazoic Launches in Private Beta
by Greg Nisbet
Today marks an important personal milestone for me. I’ve always wanted to have a crack in the booth at being a real deejay and, as of today, I am one. The idea for what would eventually become Mediazoic came to me during one of those flights of “what would my ideal job be” fancy that come every so often and, almost three years later, here we are.
We’re a week later than we’d hoped, and about two years later than I (or my long-suffering wife) originally wanted, but thanks to determination, resilience, and the help of a whole bunch of really wonderful people, the time has finally come to pull off the cover and reveal what lies beneath. There isn’t nearly enough space here to thank everyone who helped make this happen, so I’ll put that in the “Important Things To Do” folder and tackle it a bit at a time. If you signed up for our private beta, and you didn’t get an email today with instructions on how to access it, let us know. If you didn’t sign up for our private beta, and the thought of not being in on it is unbearable to you, click here.
The Mediazoic software allows anyone who listens to music on his/her computer to broadcast a stream of that music in real time over the Internet. There is no cost to the listener, and the listener does not need our software to enjoy the broadcast. Our system logs each time a song is heard, ensuring that royalties may be paid to all rights holders, so by listening to someone streaming with Mediazoic, you are helping support the continued health and vitality of the music business.
Music is a great source of knowledge. Many music fans I know, and I include myself here, would contend they’ve learned as much about the world and how it works from their music collections as they learned at school. At music’s best, it strives for incredible things, ineffible things, of which the stuff of life is made.
It is that view of music that I hope to bring to my first two Mediazoic playlists. I’ll be rotating playlists about every week, so if you listen a lot, you’ll hear some music repeated, but I’m hoping it’s music that you’ll want to hear more than once. I have some great music lined up for you. I call my first playlist Warm. As a lifelong musical traveller with a collection of music from over 100 countries, I thought it appropriate to start all this with a tropical playlist, dedicated to those upon whom winter is descending and who long for the warm sunshine.
My second playlist is called Musicmas. Far from your average Christmas music, it is a multi-denominational, multi-genre celebration of the season. It is dedicated to those who reach through music for that spirit that drives all great cultural celebrations.
To me, running a company is a bit like running a band. Talent matters, and so does practice, in front of fans. Our beta listeners are our first fans. We hope some of our talent will shine through, and we certainly appreciate applause, but we also know that we still need practice. So, we take requests, criticism or any other shout-outs in the hope that it will make us better. The best thing about the Mediazoic platform is that, just like live music or radio, what you’re hearing is what I’m hearing, and, thanks to the power of technology, we can talk about it while it’s happening.
In the end, we hope that what hooks you on Mediazoic will be the music, because we think music is important, and who you get your music from is important.
Greg Nisbet
Mediazoic CEO & Founder
7 Comments on The DJ Redefined – Mediazoic Launches in Private Beta
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Hi I got a letter regarding a private beta. Can you tell me where to download your software and how to submit comments and reviews?
Thanks
AJ
Hi AJ. There is no software to download or install. Just click on the link in the email you received and you will be taken to a page where you can access the private beta. Once you have launched our “stage” from that page, you will see links for support, feedback, and comments/reviews.
How is your service different from Xiph – open directory of streams & radios? Users do no need additional software to listen to streams published on their site and the publishing software for DJs is free. What is your advantage?
Great question, Nathan, thanks for asking.
First, let me say that I think Xiph is a great initiative. Before I go into how we’re different, it’s important to understand how we are similar. The core technology used to deliver the stream (ie. Icecast) is essentially the same. The Xiph site you referenced is basically a directory of Icecast broadcasters, most of them commercial but a few individuals as well, it seems.
This is where our advantage begins. On the streamer side, we are essentially “Icecast for Dummies”. For example, I’m pretty tech savvy but I would have difficulty properly setting up and configuring my own Icecast stream. The Mediazoic software for streamers just makes this process dramatically simpler, and allows basically anyone who can click ‘Play’ on their iTunes to become a broadcaster.
On the listener side, ours is a much richer experience than what you see on Xiph. Those streams are primarily limited to audio. Mediazoic supplements the audio stream with rich content specifically related to the audio stream. So, if you’re listening to a standard Icecast stream, you might hear a song you like and want to know more information about the artist, hear the “deejay’s” opinion of it, or you might want to buy the track. Mediazoic takes these typical responses by music lovers and integrates them in our “stage”, dramatically enriching the real time music sharing space offered by a service such as Icecast.
Feel free to sign up for our private beta list and try it for yourself!
Greg
Thanks for participating in our private beta, Nathan, and for your feedback. There are some similarities to Grooveshark, a service which I sometimes use myself, but I think you’ll see as we slowly roll out features that ours has a completely different focus. Our focus is on the real-time element of tuning into what people in networks you already use whose tastes you already know are listening to at the moment. If you use Yahoo Messenger, try adding username mediazoic as a contact to get a hint of the real power of our system and where it’s going. In any case, I hope you’ll continue to sample our system and keep providing feedback to help us get ready for a more general release.
[...] Canadian TV personality, executive producer of E! Entertainment Network and founder of music consultancy firm Invisible Republic Inc, Kim Clarke Champniss is the latest to sign on with Mediazoic’s custom-branded music streaming service. The social networking adjunct offers a unique online radio-styled streaming service for private branding for companies, marketers and individuals. You can hear streams here [...]
Thanks for the invitation Greg, I checked out your demo and find it interesting. It looks very similar to GrooveShark, so you may need to add some extra features to differentiate it from this or similar services.