Farewell, LAUNCHcast
In April of 1999, I left Microsoft, 1 year and 1 day from when I joined. I had the bug to create something new with online radio. Todd Beaupre and I were shoved in a conference room in Santa Monica. Six months later, we introduced the world to LAUNCHcast, the customized and social online radio service.
I learned a hell of a lot from my years at LAUNCH and I never worked harder. LAUNCHcast built up quite a following, especially after we were bought by Yahoo!.
From literally day one of the service, the music industry tried to kill LAUNCHcast. I went to court to defend it. Well, they finally won by raising the rates services like LAUNCHcast pay to play music to an amount that makes no financial sense. Every online radio site will now lose money. As a result, Yahoo!, decided to get out of online radio, instead sending users off to CBS Radio. There will no longer be any customized radio.
Nice job, music industry. Instead of collecting money from these services, you’ve shut down any chance of revenue. Nobody buys CDs anymore and Apple is in control of all your music distribution. Way to go.
Farewell, LAUNCHcast. You introduced me to so much music and many friends along the way.
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:57 pm
When will this happen? I’ve been using LAUNCHcast for like 5 years now and love it.
December 9th, 2008 at 8:22 am
I don’t know what I’m going to do now. I absolutely hate pre-programmed stations. Which of them will play Lemon Jelly, Tones on Tail, Sparks, etc…, and all on the same station? None of them, that’s who. Guess I’ll try Pandora. I’m just very sad, as I have over 12,000 ratings that are going to be thrown out.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:59 pm
I saw on another blog today where CBS is going to keep the ratings part of Launchcast…is that true?
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:57 pm
I’ve been a Launchcast Plus subscribers since 2002. I listen to it every day, all day at work and am simply distraught. Every new artist that I’ve been introduced to since ‘02 I found through this service. The music industry has made plenty of money off me, because I by the music that I like best. How will I find new artists now? I won’t. Great thinking music execs. You’ve screwed us both.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:58 pm
I have been listening to Launchcast at work for years. I would pay ten times as much as I am paying now; it is that valuable to me. I couldn’t believe someone else wasn’t stepping in and taking over, but I guess, Jeff, you have explained that part. Thanks for giving it to us.
Jane
December 24th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Is there anything we can do to save this? Does anyone know of another service that is even reasonable similar to Launch?
I’ve been using launch for over 3 years, have thousands of ratings, and can’t imagine what it’s going to be like without it.
December 29th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Very sad, I am a proud Launchcast user and make many CD purchases (note to record companies, you make more money on these types of purchases), based simply on discovering bands on launch. Why in the heck they couldn’t just give us the option to pay more or just insert advertisements into our custom stations. The system already works, why not keep it going. I will probably switch to a different provider now as I simply hate listening to pre-programmed stations now, I am simply spoiled now. This really sucks.
I will just have to kiss this goodbye:
RATINGS:
Artists (1,509)
Albums (3,838)
Songs (11,068)
RATINGS LEVEL
Ratings Master
(16,415 total ratings)
When you include what I didn’t rate, that is a whopping amount of music that influenced me to buy more (I have over 3100 CDs and don’t buy lossy MP3s).
December 29th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
The ratings will be saved on Yahoo! Music, but for now they won’t be used for anything. You may be able to download them if you’d like.
December 29th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Thanks Jeff, I hope that remains the case, I appreciate the follow up.
And oh, thanks to you and Todd for putting this thing together in the first place
.
December 30th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Thanks for the email! I’ve successfully saved all my ratings in OpenOffice Calc.
January 5th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Jeff, thanks for the genius behind this service. I just passed 16,000 ratings while listening at work over the years. I am beside myself as to what to listen to otherwise. Maybe Pandora can expand it’s rating system to mimic Launchcast. I pay even though I get it free thru AT&T, just to preserve my ratings (long, stupid story). Nothing else compares. So much for personal choice in the music industry.
January 12th, 2009 at 10:09 am
umm..you mentioned a possibility of downloading our ratings. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks, Steve
January 21st, 2009 at 3:40 pm
I am so disappointed about launchcast. I’ve had a station with that site since before they joined with Yahoo. The only thing I really liked about it was that I could create my won music station. Ever since I was in highschool I wished I could make my own radio station because I never like all the songs in one station and like to mix a lot of genres together. Launchcast was the ONLY place you could truly make your own station. I really really can’t understand what the problem is if the prescription is paid for. Anyway, Until someone else comes up with a site where I can make my own station, I guess I’ll have listening to my ipod for quite some time. Which sucks because launchcast was one of the few places where I was exposed to new music.
January 21st, 2009 at 4:18 pm
I can’t believe that Yahoo is getting rid of the launchcast plus service. Moving to CBS is going to make it so Yahoo offers the same stations as AOL does through CBS.
Don’t you think that if I wanted generic stations that I’d already be on AOL or some other uncustomizable internet radio?
I hope pandora will suffice, because that seems to be the only one left.
January 22nd, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Jeff, been with you guys since launch started. I have 40,000+ song rated and am scrambling to figure a way to get that ratings list. Looks like you can only do it 20 songs at a time. Huge bummer! I only joined yahoo to keep this service. Can’t wait for the scum at the top of the music business to die a painfully slow death as artists take control of their own distribution and they have to beg Apple for everything. What idiots!
January 22nd, 2009 at 6:36 pm
One more thing….
Buh bye Yahoo it’s been nice knowing you… not!
January 27th, 2009 at 10:50 am
The news of the closing of LaunchCast Plus hit me like the death announcement of an acquaintance (or honeslty even worse). This was one of the BEST services on the web, allowing people to really expand their music taste, which eventually trickled down to sales of CDs that people would have never bought had they not been exposed to them. I wouldn’t have minded paying 2x or 3x for this service. I am devastated!!
January 27th, 2009 at 11:03 am
One more thing. Just signed up with PANDORA and it looks pretty decent.
January 29th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
How can I download my 10K+ lauchcast song ratings?!! No one else knows how to do it.
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Hats off to you, Jeff. This is exactly the type of service that the music industry could use to save itself, and bring exposure to countless otherwise-ignored artists. A music distribution stroke of genius – obviously you have lots of fans. I also have bought lots of music that I first heard on launch. Their shortsightedness boggles the mind. Pop has finally eaten itself.
As of today, here’s where I am:
RATINGS:
Artists (4,213)
Albums (6,636)
Songs (12,307)
RATINGS LEVEL
Ratings Master
(23,156 total ratings)
February 3rd, 2009 at 2:03 pm
RE: savenetradio.org, is this still pending or is it now a lost cause? Is there any hope for launch to come back to life?
http://www.savenetradio.org/
February 6th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
[...] I wrote about the demise of LAUNCHcast, many people have written panicked comments about losing LAUNCHcast and all their [...]
February 18th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
You can still get to the old Launchcast if you go via Canada. Woo Hoo, for now.
ca.music.yahoo.com
February 20th, 2009 at 4:02 am
Thanks David W.
Wonder how long this will last?
Is there any way to the high quality stream? (LC terminated my plus account).
February 20th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
This is just dispicable. Greedy and short sighted execs always try to ruin the best services on the web, crushing democratic fairness for authoritarian corporate profit motives.
I loved Launchcast, I’ve tried everything else and nothing touches the rating and suggestion system…I discovered sooo much new music.
February 21st, 2009 at 4:25 am
Thank you for making this blog Jeff and I’m hoping that the yahoo Canada site stays ruining as i have had a far amount of ratings on my station.
RATINGS:
Artists (4,935)
Albums (4,896)
Songs (10,258)
RATINGS LEVEL
Ratings Master
(20,089 total ratings)
http://ca.music.yahoo.com/launchcast/station.asp?u=1814726146
My station is my music baby and seeing CBS radio on it made my hart stop for bit. LONG live LaunchCast!!!!
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:34 pm
I just found out about the canadian Launchcast. This is great!
February 24th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Hurray! Launchcast Canada has given reason to listen again!!! Although I can’t seem to figure how to get Launchcast Plus, Launchcast Plain is better than Launchcast Nothing.
February 25th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
My favorite band is Rush, they are from Canada so, for the time being, so is my Internet radio stream!
GENRES: Rock, Art/Progressive Rock, Mainstream Rock
RATINGS:
Artists (5,996)
Albums (9,157)
Songs (17,927)
RATINGS LEVEL
Ratings Master
(33,080 total ratings)
I was playing for LaunchCast plus but will settle for the lower audio quality to keep the music I like rolling though my head.
I can’t afford Rhapsody, hate CBS’ version of LaunchCast and can’t find enough variety in the 500K songs on Pandora.
I know this won’t last forever but I will treasure it while it lasts.
February 25th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Just for the record, while I was a Launchcast plus paying subscriber, I bought song directly from the integrated Buy button while it worked and then direct from Amazon after Yahoo killed off the direct purchase option. All this will paying the very affordable $36 annual fee for Launchcast Plus. I am very upset at having lost my station! Like Chechare says on comment 17 above, it is like the death of a friend.
February 26th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Day Two of Launchcast in Exile…I think I should start a blog…
February 27th, 2009 at 5:20 am
Start of Day Three…
RATINGS:
Artists (6,015)
Albums (9,186)
Songs (17,986)
RATINGS LEVEL
Ratings Master
(33,187 total ratings)
See above for progress…
March 25th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
You can also get your launchcast from http://au.music.yahoo.com
April 7th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Yahoo! is fooling around with the ratings now. It looks like they are well on their way to shutting down LaunchCast completely except for the video section. That is the only thing that seems to be maintained at all.
April 16th, 2009 at 10:46 am
Looks like yahoo.ca finally killed Launchcast. Too bad. So sad.
April 16th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Launchcast Australia is still up, although for how long is anybody’s guess.
http://au.music.yahoo.com
April 17th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
As member for several years I can only agree with other comentators and add that I personally regard it as a miracle that such an elegant and civilised system, was allowed to exist, relatively unmolested, for so long.
April 18th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Yay! Australian & NZ launchcast still up and running and I can access my station!. I really hope it stays up.
April 30th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Well, its April 30 and I am still listening to my Launchast station.
All I did was sign on to the Australia yahoo site and create an account there (cruttley@ymail.com).
Then I simply went to the Member Station area at the bottom and did a search for my original yahoo radio station (cornmanz)….then I asked it to play that station….AND IT WORKS. I can hear my beloved original Launchast station.
The world has not ended…….yet.
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:17 pm
There’s now a message on the Australian site that it’s is going to be “relaunched” in July. It sounds like luanchcast is less than a month from being officially dead.
July 15th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Sean–looks like “my station” in australia is now dead. launchcast rip.
July 17th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Yep. I see that too. RIP.
July 17th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Well, technically the service still works, even though the link is disabled (I know because I still have the player open before Yahoo Music Australia changed their front page. Can anyone figure out how to hack a link to the following URL?
http://radio.au.music.yahoo.com/radio/player/web2/player.asp?cid=608&iid=1&pups=2&p=0&m=0&d=0<w=LaunchRadioTarget&fs=undefined&enableBridgeFromRemote=undefined&sourceID=791070013#
July 23rd, 2009 at 3:38 pm
It’s official, LAUNCHcast Australia is dismantled as of now.
R.I.P. customized LAUNCHcast.
August 22nd, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Apparently, Yahoo just won in court–Launchcast is not interactive, so they would only have to pay the same rate as regular radio stations.
I wonder if there is any chance they will bring back “my station?” Anyone have any insight?
http://www.betanews.com/article/DMCAbased-appeal-fails-Yahoos-Launchcast-prevails-in-royalties-row/1250887513
August 31st, 2009 at 10:07 am
Probably not. I think they’ve gone too far to reverse course.
April 29th, 2010 at 6:37 am
They’ve “improved” Yahoo Music Canada. It looks like the only one left is Taiwan – the one hitch being I don’t speak Chinese. Urk.