Exclusive Interview: Michael Robertson Of DAR.fm

Michael Robertson (former CEO of MP3.COM) is the CEO of his newest startup company, DAR.fm (stands for “digital audio recorder”). Droid Report interviewed Michael Robertson about his current role at DAR.fm, taking a further look at the digital audio industry, DAR.fm Launches “UberStations” and his company plans for FY 2014.

Michael Robertson

Droid Report: You have been quite an accomplished technology entrepreneur with past roles as the founder of digital music company MP3.com in 1997 and building several other successful pioneering companies. DAR.fm is your newest start-up company for those who enjoy listening to the radio. Could you tell us more about it and your plans for 2014?

Michael Robertson: I'm focused on bringing radio into the digital age. The radio industry is bigger than newspapers, magazines and recorded music yet its a laggard when it comes to benefiting from a digital transformation. To see what I mean go to Google and you can see they index never every media sector (newspapers, photos, blogs, etc) except radio. While other media experiences are advancing because consumers have more control and interaction radio is stagnant. I aim to change that.

Droid Report: DAR.fm launched “UberStations” last week, a comprehensive guide of stations made immediately available to all SHOUTCast licensees as a result of the SHOUTCast closure. Why is UberStations a better alternative?

Michael Robertson: SHOUTCast was a pioneer, but since it was acquired by AOL is has been neglected and is now woefully behind the times. It has a limited station list and lacks even the most basic capabilities like search. Licensees are severely limited by this dependence.

UberStations is a vastly more comprehensive station directory because it has stations from SHOUTcast, but also AM/FM, icecast and thousands of other sources. Those stations are indexed in real-time making it possible for people to search for artists, songs and shows they want to listen to and find and play them. There are many other features like geo-location where listeners can find radio stations near them and an amazing recommendation engine.

Droid Report: Winamp and ShoutCast could potentially be sold to Microsoft. Microsoft already has its own media player for Windows and its own Xbox Music. Does it make sense? What do you think of these recent talks?

Michael Robertson: I don't believe press reports that Microsoft will buy Winamp/SHOUTcast. They already have a popular player and they have invested heavily in Xbox Music as you point out.

Droid Report: The expansion of digital audio streaming services will contribute to smartphone user growth. Some of the fastest growth is in countries Russia, Sweden, China, India and Brazil. Do you have plans for Int’l expansion?

Michael Robertson: Music is the universal language. In most countries 60% of the listening is western music and 40% is native artists. Nearly every country has strong demand for western music and they don't care where the station is that will satisfy their musical cravings. The UberStations guide of radio stations covers the entire globe so we're ready for this expansion. The search capabilities make it easy for people to enter an artist name and find stations anywhere in the world playing that artist and the related type of music. So UberStations is tearing down some of the walls between countries and stations. About half of our stations are net stations with little connection to where their servers happen to reside. They're just delivering music they believe people are interested in. (The other half are AM/FM simulcasters.)

Droid Report: Digital revenues today are surpassing traditional brick and mortar sales for certain types of music companies. There are still legal issues to consider when seeking licenses, copyright, implementing digital outlets, digital audio and related platforms. Companies like Google’s music services have also been an influence on the future of music and politics. What advice on pitfalls and perils from your experience do you think should be avoided?

Michael Robertson: Indeed digital revenues have surpassed offline revenues in most every country. The challenge is satisfying users by providing a pleasing experience but also being able to build an economically sound business without getting crushed by expensive licensing demands. The reason a company like Pandora is only available in 3 countries (US, New Zealand, Australia) is not because people don't want the Pandora experience elsewhere but rather it's not possible for Pandora to get viable licenses to have a profitable business in other countries. This remains the number one challenge for online music services.

Droid Report: How would you like to see DAR.fm impact the technology industry?

Michael Robertson: DAR.fm is a technology company, not a music or radio company. Our aim is to devise ways for radio companies deliver audio to people in new ways that technology makes possible. If they do nothing their business will erode as net only players like Pandora, Spotify, etc devour their business.

At DAR.fm we're building new radio experience like the DVR for radio service called DAR.fm. More importantly we're publishing radio information (stations, shows, songs, location) and inviting the tech world to be radio's R&D team. See: bit.ly/UberStations

Droid Report: Is there anything else you feel Android users and the Android market should know?

Michael Robertson: Remember the early internet days when Yahoo had a list of web sites users had to slog through? It quickly became untenable. Then along came Google which indexed everything with an amazing search layer unlocking a world of information that consumers could find. Android radio apps will undergo the same transformation. The first generation of radio apps have been A-Z station lists that are not pleasing to use. Who wants to scroll through hundreds or thousands of stations? Fortunately, the next generation of apps are under development where consumers have much more control and access to find exactly what interests them. Users can get a sneak peak about what kind of new user experience is possible by visiting RadioSearchEngine.com which is web based, but it shows the direction the industry will move in.

DAR.fm

Michael Robertson is an accomplished technology entrepreneur with a consistent track record of identifying promising trends often in disruptive sectors, building pioneering companies, and leading them to profitability and acquisition. Over his career he has raised more than $100 million in private capital and orchestrated transactions with a combined value of nearly a billion dollars. His technical and operational expertise has spanned industries as diverse as digital music, VOIP and Linux with notable companies including MP3.com, Linspire and Gizmo5. In 1997, Michael Robertson founded digital music company MP3.com. This company brought online music to the mainstream by amassing the largest collection of digital music and introducing it to millions of consumers. As CEO and Chairman Mr. Robertson raised venture capital from top tier venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Idealab (now called Clearstone) and took the company public in July 1999 on NASDAQ with the largest internet IPO of all time. Within four years, MP3.com grew annual revenues to more than $80MM annually and sold the profitable company to the world's largest music company Vivendi/Universal.

We would like to thank Michael Robertson for taking the time for this discussion and DAR.fm.