There’s no event that’s more exhilarating than Austin’s South by Southwest, an annual festival that combines Interactive, Music and Film, all tied together with the new, expanding Trade Show floor. Of course, Backbone was right in the middle of it, demonstrating “Internet Radio Simplified” for the crowds.
Naturally, we were delighted being the only turnkey Internet radio station provider in the event, and even more pleased so often to hear “there’s nothing else like what Backbone does”. So that’s why we bring a mobile studio to these events, to show attendees how quickly and easily they can be on the air. And because everything they need for a remote broadcast fits into a backpack (Mac+mixer+mics), setup time is only a couple of minutes.
Our mission at SxSW was twofold:
- Introduce new schools to your IBS Student Radio Network by Backbone, and
- Build on relationships with our partners to provide greater services and features for our member stations.
We think we did pretty well on both counts. We met student radio representatives from a number of large universities, all of whom voiced that being part of the IBS-SRN would be a major upgrade for their radio clubs.
On the partnership front, we can’t say too much here, but we’re continuing to make good progress for your Backbone-hosted station. For example, in the area of delivery, not only is your station now available in both the TuneIn and iTunes radio tuners, but we expect to soon have your station become available on a new service that allows your listeners to actually record your shows for later listening, just like time shifting TV programs on your DVR. We also met up with our friends from the Public Radio Exchange who tell us that they are getting quite a reception for their Public Radio Remix efforts that is available on XM/123, terrestrially and on the Internet.
From Texas we jumped on a plane and headed back to New York for the College Media Association’s NYC12 conference. More on this soon.