Internet radio aggregator TUN3R today (May 6, 2008) unveiled major changes to its service and business model, in a bid to break the "willing buyer/willing seller" logjam that is forcing some popular webcasters to shutter their service.
Listeners visiting TUN3R.com will now be able to visit any one of the ten new "City Dials". Each City Dial displays a tiled mosaic of all Webcasting AM/FM stations for the given city. Stations are ordered as they would be on a traditional AM/FM tuner. The cities featured are: Toronto; New York City; Nashville; London; Paris; Glasgow; Stuttgart; Rome; Seoul; and Buenos Aires. Each City Dial can be accessed via a dedicated web address (e.g. nyc.tun3r.com, london.tun3r.com, paris.tun3r.com). For some cities, all AM/FM stations are available as streams. Additionally, over 350 Internet stations are featured adjacent to the local AM/FM stations. For the first time, listeners will be able to seamlessly browse between terrestrial and Internet radio.

For the Internet portion of the City Dials, TUN3R provides links to up to 30 stations for each of the 29 genres. TUN3R has found that listeners prefer to casually flip between stations instead of searching by keyword. TUN3R's genre-based organization allows listeners to quickly find a song or program playing that satisfies their mood.

"When the stations are properly organized and presented, DJ-mixed web radio provides far greater satisfaction and enjoyment than any of the custom radio services we have evaluated," said Neil Hepburn, TUN3R's co-founder and general manager of marketing. "Listeners enjoy the very act of flipping around stations, browsing the various music genres, talk, sports and news as their moods change. TUN3R acts as a 'meta-DJ', mixing the very best stations to match most moods and personalities."

Listeners can browse stations in Discovery Mode, or in Live Mode. Discovery Mode is TUN3R's traditional means of tuning, and is analogous to an old-fashioned radio. Discovery Mode is ideal for finding new stations, and allows listeners to rapidly flip among audio samples taken recently from the stations' Webcast. Conversely, Live Mode is ideal for flipping between the live streams of a listener's favourite stations. Both modes allow listeners to discover stations through the artist/song track search feature, or station homepage search feature. Listeners can easily navigate back to their favourite stations by saving them as a Dial Preset. Because each station tile is an image, stations are instantly recognizable regardless of language or literacy.

Currently, all City Dials feature the same 350 Internet stations. Over time, the mix of Internet stations will be localized to accommodate regional tastes and preferences, and to comply with national content regulations. Webcasters will then have the opportunity to create regional versions of their streams to support targeted local advertising.

Profit-Sharing for Webcasters

For webcasters, TUN3R is proposing a new subscription profit-sharing program. Designed to address the difficulty individual Internet radio stations face in obtaining paid subscribers, this business model allows listeners to subscribe to all 2,000+ TUN3R-listed stations via a single subscription. TUN3R will manage these subscriptions and allocate the fees to the stations that are providing the content based on actual peruser listenership. Any Webcaster that participates in the Profit-Sharing Program will have these variable costs covered through subscription revenues, and will earn additional revenue per Internet-based listener. Stations may participate in the Subscription Profit-Sharing Program without offering exclusivity. As TUN3R's overall subscriber base increases, TUN3R will increase the margins it pays out to Webcasters, in order to further strengthen goal congruence.

"We have relationships with dozens of DJs, producers, and station owners from all over the world," said Hepburn. "We are committed to preserving their independence and creative control. Our consumer subscription model embraces that principle and rewards the talented DJs and producers that make Internet radio such an exciting domain."

TUN3R will build out its Internet radio subscriber network infrastructure by developing software on existing wireless devices, consoles and set-top-boxes, and through strategic partnerships that will further distribute premium Webcaster content and provide a range of billing options. In particular, TUN3R will design a custom application for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.

About TUN3R

For more information, check our latest review about TUN3R here:
TUN3R: Tune Your Favorite Radio.