SCR Long and Boring FAQ

Why SCR?
About 3 years ago. I formed or at least tried to form a techno group called "The Acme". It was a disaster – and we split after a few months
After I went solo – had no choice really and started making my own music and created the "Space Cadets". However, making music is not enough.

I wanted people to listen. I could have given MDs to friends and so on, but I really wanted a lot more people to listen, so I started Space Cadets Radio.

But the effort of doing SCR gave me lots more ideas and so SCR now is a forum for all new musicians, mostly in Tokyo to give them a chance to get listened in a bigger arena.

Whether independent artist’s music is played or not is judged on listeners. If listeners click-off enough the music is removed next month from the playlist.

Where did the name come from?
Well Radio is pretty obvious. Space Cadets comes from the name of my band, which happened as follows. While in Bali trying to think of a good name foe a band – in a bar I saw the name of a cocktail named "Space Cadet". The name stuck, and I like the idea of going somewhere that no-one has been before (Space), and still being quite innocent about the journey (Cadet). I added and "s" and there you go.

What do you get out of it? You must make something?
None of this is to make money, I don’t collect e-mail addresses or anything bad of any kind. You will not receive junk/spam mail etc. Maybe in the future I may use google adsense – but that is really because the station costs money
SCR is just to encourage people to believe in themselves and make and enjoy music like I do.

We live in a cynical world where people believe you don’t get anything for nothing. Well here you do. I pay for the LA server and server space on live365 and have the pleasure of making (hopefully exciting) playlists over a few beers every few weeks – please enjoy.

Zaerkz – SCR main DJ

LISTENING TO THE STATION

1.    Do I have to Join Live365 before I can listen to the station?
No
Live365 requires their users to join them, before listening to the station. If you do join you get more features and can make your own list of favorites and customize your listening experience.
However, if you just want to try it out, just use:

Username: scrscr
Password: 1234

2.   How much does it cost to listen?
Nothing, it’s free

3. Why are there so many ads?
The station is not expensive to run and so LIve365 supports their income with ads. In the future they may be removed if I can afford it.

4. I can’t get SCR to work with my 56k modem. Why not?
SCR needs an ADSL or better connection. That’s why the music sounds so good. 56k modem stations don’t sound so good.

SENDING SONGS

How much does it cost to put one of my Songs on Space Cadets Radio?
Nothing
None of this is to make money, I don’t collect e-mail addresses or anything bad of any kind. You will not receive junk/spam mail etc. SCR is just to encourage people to believe in themselves and make and enjoy music like I do.

We live in a cynical world where people believe you don’t get anything for nothing. Well here you do. I pay for the Texas server and server space on live365 and have the pleasure of making (hopefully exciting) playlists over a few beers every few weeks – please enjoy.

How many of my songs will you play on the station at once?
maximum 3
You can send as many as you like, if you send more than 3, I will rotate the songs either monthly or depending on feedback from the listening audience. Songs the audience hate are removed until some space becomes available. This depends on the number of musicians/composers who would like to be played on SCR

Does your station meet with American Copyright Laws?
Yes. We pay a small extra royalty fee to keep our station legal.

What kind of music is acceptable?
All music must be written by you. A good idea is to listen to the Space Cadets Radio Station

Personally I like:: Techno, electronica and alternative, but songs are not chosen by me, they are kept or rejected by the listeners, I only change the playlist order to make it interesting

What information do you require for songs?
All songs must include Artist, Title and Album in the email

This is to meet with American copyright laws. If you don’t have an album, just make up a name you would like it to be called. For example, "Live at Gamuso Bar"

Can you give me some technical information? What format should my song be in?
Format
Your song should be in mp3 format, 56k bps or better, 128k is ideal.

Quality
Minimum mp3 quality should be 56kbps, 22050 Hz (25.2:1) – stereo or better

Lower quality and mono songs will be rejected. I have a responsibility to play good quality music on the station, so listeners keep listening to both your music and other musician’s music

Upload Size
Maximum upload file size generally should not exceed 10Mbs

The actual maximum allowed upload size is 15Mbs – this allows for songs over 16 minutes long at 128Kbps quality. However, your song must be pretty good if you think your listeners will listen for a full 16 minutes. Generally, shorter songs are less likely to be rejected by an audience.

Silence
Please remove any silence from the start or end of songs

Normalizing
Please normalize your songs to 100%

Very quiet songs don’t last too long on the radio station

Labeling
Please label the mp3 Artist/Title/track/album (ID3 tags) properly

If you don’t know how, I can do it, but it may take longer for your song to be played on the station

Is it OK to upload my favorite songs?
All songs must be written by you or a friend

They must not be stolen from mainstream professional artists on CDs, bootlegs etc

Are there any Artistic Limits?
We don’t give our artists any musical or artistic limits

All songs are reviewed before playing on the station and we have not rejected any songs so far. However, songs that have inappropriate language may be rejected. In addition, poor quality recordings and songs that are just stupid, such a pig sounds for 10 minutes, or someone screaming "Mary had a Little Lamb" for half an hour may not get much airplay.

Ownership Issues
The songs always remain your property.

If you become famous, it would be nice if you mentioned Space Cadets Radio