You’ve hit the nail on the head there. In fact I’d go further and say true hard core EDM fans probably never adapted DAB+ in the first place.
Making a generalisation here, these people have usually been ahead of the curve technology wise, a good example being Wild FM being early to the internet streaming party. This plus the fact dance music was more underground in these early days meant these early EDM fans were turning to the internet pretty early on for their fix not to mention a dedication to owning their own collections of media (I regularly see posts of huge collections of either vinyl club mixes or CD compilation sets on Facebook trance and dance groups).
Fast forward to today and the genre and it’s many sub genres is far better served by streaming alternatives be it your Soundcloud, YouTube, artists own radio shows like ASOT or ABGT as examples or for those really keen Beatport.
While stations like Novanation, Dance Hits, iHeartradio Dance, Gorilla (if it’s still going?) etc. may serve those with either a casual interest or radio nerds like us, I can’t honestly see them becoming huge ratings success’s. And let’s face it, for a radio broadcaster it’s probably far more lucrative to advertise say farming equipment to the country music demographic then anything to an EDM demographic.
I was really only looking at Novanation in Brisbane getting 19k. But you make a good argument when DAB+ listenership is taken into perspective nationally. With EDM you are quite right in mentioning CADA - who play a substantial amount of dance (as did the Edge). I remember when I was doing breakfast on Wild FM in 2000 and playing ‘No Scrubs - TLC’. We knew at that stage that EDM was giving way to RnB.
So yeah. You do have a point.
Yes totally agree. I get annoyed by the ads on the SCA DAB+ stations, predictably at 15, 30, 45 and the top of the hour and long blocks of ten ads. That’s why I loved Novanation MkII when it first started. And their only ads were for podcasts.
But the music is definitely better on Dance. Better to lose Novanation than to lose Dance in my opinion (despite the ads).
Nova should just get Central Coast DAB going so they can have their own Hobart style dumping ground for clearing these extra stations, as I can’t think of any other reason to ditch Nova Nation for Country.
I suppose the ‘Fresh Country’ is at least something a bit unique compared to the Triple M and especially the ABC Country format, but it certainly doesn’t seem like something that should have been a priority.
there’s no innovation in DAB, as proven by this nova move.
Having experienced DAB in London there’s so many formats that could garner a decent niche audience here without canablising the main station. I’m definitely not talking about decades stations or anything but things like Broadway Hits, Pride, the station for oldies playing 50’s and 60’s music and more..
With this, ARN still has a chance to launch a Gold DAB+ station into Brisbane. They could either start it from scratch, or rebrand Ipswich’s River94.9 to GOLD94.9 and simulcast that in the Brisbane area on DAB+ and refocus that station to be catering for both cities. Except the advertising feed could be different for the different feeds, the Ipswich FM feed would retain Ipswich ads, but the Brisbane/Metro ads could go on the DAB+ Brisbane feed instead, as opt-outs. News, sport, weather and traffic could cater for both cities. Simple as that.
I assume this is so Nova can save money on royalties , as Nova Country was already a streaming station, but having it on DAB means they no longer have to pay royalties for any of the songs broadcast on the streaming channel.
This would be the same reason for SCA putting all their LiSTNR streaming channels into Hobart and Gold Coast, to save money on royalties.
I don’t think that’s an issue, CADA does exactly this in Sydney (even though its FM station is licensed for the Blue Mountains and far western Sydney only).
I’m not 100% sure that’s strictly true. It would certainly be pushing the boundaries to call it Gold949 on DAB in Brisbane, and they probably wouldn’t do it in case it brought on scrutiny, but I think in reality an operator can call a DAB station whatever they like. If it happens to be similar/the same as a neighbouring analogue station, as long as the feeds are different enough I’m not sure it’s breaking any specific rules. ut yes, they never called The Edge “The Edge 961” on Sydney DAB. I do think it’s a grey area though, given the generic nature of station names these days such as Triple M and Nova with common branding in adjacent markets.
Worth noting SEN also broadcast SEN Sydney and SEN Melbourne on DAB in Brisbane. They’re not neighbouring markets, but still.
I’m not 100% sure that’s strictly true. Stations pay fees to APRA AMCOS monthly based on a percentage of their gross advertising revenue in that month. The rate varies from 0.054% to 3.76%. This rate depends on the amount of registered works broadcast as a percentage of their on-air time.
So it doesn’t make any difference from a ‘royalties’ sense (commercial radio doesn’t pay royalties - it’s APRA AMCOS that pays royalties to performers based on their 1-6 minute formula). Even if Nova nation ceased (which it hasn’t), Nova entertainment would still be paying the same amount in licence fees. The only change to their licence fees would be if they were, for example, able to generate extra revenue from increased advertising revenue by playing Luke Combs instead of Martin Garrix.
I don’t think that’s an issue. Originally, when ARN introduced the Edge to digital, they called it Edge Digital vs. The Edge 96.1 in Katoomba. However later it just became a simulcast of The Edge 96.1 along with Sydney ads, Sydney traffic reports, etc.
Also, Canberra has (or had) Snow FM on DAB+, while Cooma has a Snow FM (2SKI) on FM. Is Snow FM Canberra a simulcast of Snow FM Cooma?
That’s not entirely correct, a few years ago, APRA-AMCOS tried to make radio stations pay royalty fees on both their broadcast & web streams, (as is done in some places overseas), even if they were a simulcast, of course this would’ve cost the radio stations more money as they doubled up on fees, so they arced up & most of them turned off their web streaming, eventually APRA-AMCOS caved & came to an agreement that radio stations only needed to pay once on their “Broadcast” (AM/FM/DAB+) service & any simulcast web stream would be covered under this fee.
If a radio station or network streams music on a online station (not simulcast with their broadcast service), then they pay fees on that stream as does anyone who streams music on a online radio station (which anyone can do, you don’t have to own a radio network to have your own online radio station streaming music), to reduce costs on the streaming fees, it’s better for the networks to run the online station on a broadcast service (DAB+) somewhere in the country, as then it becomes a simulcast & they only pay once under the broadcast license fees, not separately & an streaming extra fee.
Nova Nation is still on DAB in Sydney & Nova Country isn’t so that gives Nova the ability to save costs on both stations, running them both on air & online.
Scott Baker-Smith, Head of Music at Nova Network, said:
“The response to Nova Fresh Country since its launch has been amazing. Country music has blended into the Nova playlists for some time now, with artists pushing the boundaries and redefining what both pop and country sound like today. That’s exactly why we created Nova Fresh Country; to give fans a dedicated space for the country music they love, while reflecting how the genre is evolving. If you enjoy the country songs you hear on the Nova Network, you’ll love Nova Fresh Country.”
