Stephen Adams lives in Sydney where he now works as Producer, Australian Music Unit for ABC Classic FM. At the ABC, Adams's role includes co-producing the specialty radio program New Music Up Late , commissioning and producing recordings and other special Australian music projects, involvement with international broadcast program exchanges, and producing an Australian Music website.

1. AMU Web
Context, Projects & Challenges
for a public broadcaster presenting
new Australian music on line
For Soundstreams: New Models of Distribution Conference
by Stephen Adams, May 2008
(Producer, Australian Music Unit, ABC Classic FM,
Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

2. Background 1: ABC Radio
• Australian Broadcasting Commission (now Corporation)
established 1933
• ABC funding from general tax revenue - no licensing fees.
• 6 ABC radio symphony orchestras - one in each state capital
• ABC Radio now includes 4 national networks: Radio
National, ABC Classic FM, Triple J & News Radio plus
ABC Local Radio stations across country
• Orchestras progressively corporatised and divested from ABC
1990s – 2007
• 2008 – orchestras independent in finance and programming.
Special relationship with ABC through Service Level
Agreement providing a dollar-neutral commitment to record
and broadcast all orchestral series concerts.

3. Background 2:ABC Classic FM
Focus on coverage of Australian performance
• Music production teams in every state capital (3 teams in
Sydney and Melbourne)
• 500+ concert & studio performances recorded & broadcast
p/year
• Concert broadcasts: midday & 8pm, Mon. - Sat.
(70% local, 30% international exchange content)
• ABC concert recordings also broadcast in weekly programs
New Music Up Late, Jazz Up Late and Jazztrack
• Sunday Live free broadcast concerts presented around country
10 months per year
• Australian Music Unit created to support extended use of
Australian content and exchange programs

4. ABC Radio on the web
Radio web success stories include:
• Radio National podcasts
http://www.abc.net.au/services/podcasting/network_RadioNati
onal.htm) - huge international take-up for in-depth talk and
feature program content)
• Triple J’s JTV (http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/tv/) - radio
moving into music and youth magazine TV content) &
Unearthed (http://www.triplejunearthed.com/) - user music
uploads with audience responses feeding on-air programming).
• DIG (http://www.abc.net.au/dig/) - on-line automated ‘radio’ &
TV content for mainstream popular music, jazz and country
music

5. ABC Classic FM on web
Classical radio not ABC priority for web resources.
ABC Classic FM (CFM) website developed for:
• music playlists (e.g.
http://www.abc.net.au/classic/daily/stories/s2217907.htm)
• program/presenter info. (e.g.
http://www.abc.net.au/classic/newmusic/)
Website maintained 3-days-a-week web, expanded to 5 days in May 07.
2006-2008 - shift towards artist and publisher
agreements leads to on-demand web streaming of
on-air programs.

6. Australian Music Website
Background to CFM’s Australian Music website
• January 2004 - disappearance of on-air ‘home’ for Australian
music with closure of weekly specialty programs New Music
Australia and The Listening Room.
• July 2004 - new temporary specialist position – Australian
Music Curator – created to pursue opportunities for Australian
music programming across the network
• October 2004 – becomes clear that cross-network
programming is a long-term project which will not provide a
focus for new music and other specialist audiences. Decision to
establish Australian Music website
(http://www.abc.net.au/classic/australianmusic/)
• No new resources for design or content creation. Work within
existing text & list structure. Use pilot projects to expand
content & explore diverse models for presenting new music.

7. Pilot project #1
Web as sonic gallery & music as objects in space
http://www.abc.net.au/classic/australianmusic/freshsounds.htm
Sonic Environments and previous incarnations
(Drawing a long bow; Shortcuts; ModArt05;
Aurora in the Metropolis…) presented as audio
on-demand streaming with text and images.
Problem - temporary nature doesn’t suit secondary
& tertiary education audience - a major potential
audience for this content.

8. Pilot project #2
Radio programs on-line for posterity
• Canberra’s Calling heritage project
http://www.abc.net.au/classic/features/canberra.htm
• Elision 20th anniversary concert
http://www.abc.net.au/classic/features/elision20concert.htm
Problem - Addresses long-term access to Australian heritage
music content on line but doesn’t use web resources to
attract or engage audience.

9. Pilot project #3
The A-Z of Spiritual Music
http://www.abc.net.au/classic/spiritual
Associative linking of
• concepts (text & talk)
• musical experiences
(music recordings)
Developed by composer Richard Vella
in collaboration with ABC.
Q - Could a similar architecture be developed for more
diverse and even user-generated content - a music-
experiential Wiki?

10. The AMU podcast
http://www.abc.net.au/classic/podcast.htm
Audiences want downloads not streaming.
• 2005-2007 Independent new music artists shift from
opposition to desire for their work to be downloaded.
• New recording contracts incorporating download rights.
• October 2007 - enough content available to begin weekly
new Australian music podcast, building regular on-line
audience for new music.

11. Pilot project #4
The Orpheus Project
http://www.abc.net.au/classic/orpheus
• Artists/listeners create and upload
short musical works responding to
opera & Orpheus story with samples
from Monteverdi’s l’Orfeo.
• Project trials user-generated content and creates relationship between
network’s core content and broad-based new music community.
• Diverse new work generated, with audience choice and ABC choice
winners receiving commissions for new work.
• Huge download statistics at culmination of project - 300,000
downloads in final week!
Definitely need to do more of this, BUT need to find more ways for
audience to interact on line, and to streamline in-house processing to
make increased on-line activity sustainable.

12. Pilot projects #5
Val Camonica Pieces & The Lute Project
http://www.abc.net.au/classic/australianmusic/valcamonica/
http://www.abc.net.au/classic/lute/
Radio grappling with rich-media:
music with independent film art;
& music video feature content
Q How do we pay for independently
-produced rich media content?
Q How does a radio station build
in-house capacity with multi-media?

13. Issues Arising
• Website design - as quantity, diversity & richness of content develops, how do we
re-design websites to be both inviting and navigable?
• Audiences - how do we promote our on-line new music resources to relevant old
and new audiences? What are the possibilities for u.g.c. and the development of on-
line communities?
• International competition - Will on-line broadcasters and other music presenters
hyper-link together to survive, or fight to the death? Or is the web an opportunity
for new and local music presentation?
• Radio on line - How will audio specialists become strong producers of visual
content & manage added burden of making on-line content? Or is there a large role
for purely aural radio experiences on the web? How can the vast heritage archive of
national music recordings be made available on line?
• Artist fees - With no new money, how do we pay artists for on-line rights? Or
should it be seen as promotion or just more broadcasting?
• Copyright and royalty collection - What are appropriate models for artists
receiving remuneration for on-line presentation of their work? What about creative
commons and the ideal of the web as a creative melting pot of freely exchanged
ideas? Cf: Pool - UGC research partnership with the tertiary sector -
http://www.pool.org.au/ - launching in July 2008