

We still need to raise $1,599 this month. In less than 24 hours - smectos
http://somafm.com/

======
SkyMarshal
Maybe if the subject line was a little more explicit about why, for what, more
people might click it. Example:

 _Still need to raise $1599 to stay commercial-free - underground/alternative
Internet radio broadcasting from San Francisco._

Both my own personal experience and text-ad studies I've seen suggest that
specific, concrete info drives higher value click-throughs (eg, more people
willing to use or pay or your product).

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Mz
Yeah, and I need about $1200 to pay my taxes from last year. And I'm homeless,
deeply in debt, and trying to declare bankruptcy. So?

Why is this begathon posted here?

~~~
wiwillia
Because we love soma.fm - it's a free service that many of us enjoy

~~~
Mz
I have gone to lunch and come back. It was amusing to watch the upvotes and
downvotes for my remarks before I left. That seems to still be going on.

I appreciate that you love it. But that is exactly why they don't need a
begathon and shouldn't have one. They could post their donation goal for the
month on the site (at the beginning of the month) and post regular updates as
to how much they have gotten so far. If it is looking to be a shortfall, an
email to their subscribers would be appropriate. No begging required. They
offer something of value and they need something of value in return to keep it
going. That requires communication, not begging.

And, frankly, with an established audience and relatively highish monthly
inflow, at this point they should be hiring someone with experience to help
them raise and manage an endowment so one slow month doesn't threaten to take
them off the air. Their begathon loudly announces that their business model
needs work as it isn't being handled very professionally or responsibly.

I did a lot of volunteer work over the years and I have studied how Not-For-
Profit models work. I am not just talking out my ass here.

Peace and carry on.

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mappu
I listen to DI.FM at work. The free streams are ad-supported, but the only ads
i ever get are tasteful ones for their own premium service (which lets you
listen ad-free in higher quality), seems like a pretty sustainable model.

Oh, they've been running ads for AlienVPS recently, which is actually kind of
relevant to my work. : )

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hbeaver
I didn't realize they were that short, so I donated, again. As a listener (as
I type this), I appreciate the post.

~~~
douglasisshiny
As a very new listener (as of like 15 minutes ago), I was happy to chip in a
bit. Already hooked to the ambient station.

Even though it seems they'd prefer never to have ads, I wouldn't mind them
having a few advertisements at the top of every hour, or some similar
arrangement. I wonder how much sparse ad placement would help.

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famousactress
I'd forgotten about 'guestbook' pages on web sites!

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shawnc
Just wanted to say this was the first i'd heard of SomaFM, and am checking it
out now. So far - pretty good!

