Paradise by the Laptop Light by Meg Meyer

When I write, when I clean, when I surf online or chat with my friends, there's one constant - music. The usual source of the music, in my case is an internet-based, commercial free, listener supported, freely available, DJ mixed eclectic radio station called Radio Paradise.

You don't need to register to listen. You don't need special software. You don't get bombarded with a bunch of annoying advertisements.

What you do get is a hand picked mix of music from around the globe, deep cuts, indie artists to serenade you through your life. Sometimes a song will fade into the background, and others will do a running jump into your face. Discover new songs, new artists, even some from a part of the planet you don't think about on a regular basis.

You can see what's playing now, and what you just missed, right on the homepage. Decide to listen (most music is work safe) or log in to the website for more interactive options.

While registration is not required, music fans will want to join in the discussion about what's playing. Like a song? Or did one make your ears bleed in protest? Speak up! Vote! Add a comment.

Click on a song, and be taken to a page where all kinds of information is available. Check out more from the artist, more from the album, see the album art (when available,) get lyrics, see what others think about the song. Purchase the song from iTunes or Amazon, get tour information.

The main thing I enjoy Radio Paradise for is connecting with my long-distance friends. While I listen in Wisconsin, my friends in Texas, Hawaii, Alaska, and Australia are all listening to the same song, at the same time. We've been in the middle of our various daily tedium and a song will come on that we'll get excited about and touch base with each other, via IM and say, "are you listening? What a great song!"

Another thing I credit Radio Paradise with is discovering, and purchasing music, like "Land of Anaka," by Geoffrey Oryema, off of "African Odysseus." I never would have been captivated by that song, or exposed to such a wide variety of artists on mainstream radio stations.

Have music that you think should be on RP? Want to be heard worldwide? Submit your two best songs to the Listener Review Channel. If it fits with what RP plays, you could get featured in the LRC, and voted upon by fans of Radio Paradise, and voted into the regular rotation. Being "discovered" by thousands of people, worldwide, at once, couldn't be bad exposure.

In our global culture, it's amazing to look at the listener map on Radio Paradise and see 11,661 listeners in the USA, 1213 listeners in Canada, 143 in Brazil, 624 in Germany, and even two in Iraq are all checking out the same song as I am, at this moment. There are listeners all over, just take a look!

Bill & Rebecca Goldsmith DJ the station themselves, mixing sets for a smooth flow, resulting in optimum listener enjoyment. Radio Paradise is based out of Paradise, California, and runs on an "innovative programming automation system" that Bill designed himself.

Royalties and copyright fees are high, and have recently increased for all internet radio stations, while AM & FM stations don't have to pay these extra fees, incidentally. Radio Paradise relies on it's affiliate relationships, and loyal listeners to give them the money they need to keep the station going. So you may occasionally hear Bill ask for donations, or pitching Radio Paradise hoodies, as a means to cover the cost of staying "on air." (Or would it be "on stream?")

If you have eclectic taste in music, and like giving your ears new treats, you'll enjoy Radio Paradise. But what you might like most about Radio Paradise is what you don't hear... advertisements.

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The preceding post is an article I wrote on a non-exclusive, non-paid basis. It's submitted to several content banks including:



GoArticles.com.

Constant Content.

Meg Meyer's Lenses.

Meg Meyer's Writing & Business Blog.

The Center of Muse.

MegMeyer.com - Pre-Launch

And, of course, the journals of RadioParadise.com.

Are YOU going to share this on your website? Let me know & I'll add a link to your site!

- Meg Meyer

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Meg Meyer is a writer, life coach, speaker, workshop leader, entrepreneur, and creative independent. Meg is the founder of several internet businesses and helps others create vocations around their passions. She is based in the Midwest region of the United States, however she'll travel for almost any reason... or no reason at all.



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Thoughts on Sponsored Blogs

In an effort to better monetize my websites, and hone my craft, I've been researching different ways to be paid for writing & blogging. There have been a wide variety of scams, biz ops, and shady operations that have come up in my search. There have been promising ideas, as well.

In a recent search for "Sponsored Blogs," I came across a post by someone who was claiming that posting a sponsored review was "selling out to tha man," and compromising the integrity of the blog, the blogger, and the entire bloggiverse, as well. Is that always the case? I think not.

While I have come across blogs who feature a different biz op or affiliate feature on each page... and THAT is the entire blog; I have also browsed blogs that have useful information, seasoned by the occasional sponsor, advertisement or sponsored post. And a few advertisement free blogs with poorly written content are out there too.

That's the thing with blogs, though. They're blogs (as opposed to newspapers, magazines & other media.) Owned by the blogger. The very heart of the blogging craze is that everyone has an opinion. And so they write it out for the world... or nobody... to see.




I was thinking last night about "integrity" and "money." How much of the former can you have with the latter involved? Some say not much. I say money is merely an "enhancing drug" it wont change your core, but will accentuate what kind of person you already are.

If you have integrity, and with said integrity go after money - that's not a sin. We all have to live, and eat, and put a roof over our heads or find a bridge to live under.

So what, then, about sponsored blogs, sponsored posts, and sponsored reviews? Well, like the internet, there are going to be slimy individuals out there not caring if they're accurate or honest. But also like the internet there will be folks who will give an unbiased review, their educated opinion, and maybe even some well cited fact.

It's like secret shopping, that's a little less secret. Or like pitching amazon books on your homepage.

So how does one trust the content of a blog, website, etc, that pays or gets paid for it's content? The same way you trust your neighbor's opinion. Take what you read, and use it as inspiration for your own research.

Head Spinning Research

Now that I have hosting and a few domain names, I'm looking into what kind of content management software and website design ware I'd like to learn about.

You see, I'm old-school. I made my early pages with notepad. Yes. Really.

And while I could still code by hand, I want some of the bells and whistles of the newfangled dynamic pages, etc. I also want to spend more of my time writing and building my business than designing my website. (Odd, for a web-designer, I know. But I'd rather build my business by building YOUR website. I'd rather build my portfolio by writing an article for YOU.)

I'm interested in learning more about Ruby on Rails, WordPress, Serendipity, Joomla, Coffee Cup. Just based on hype, thus far.

I need functionality and design now, while being scalable later. I need content management, and quick loads. I need ad and product placement capabilities. I need a clients only section. I'll eventually need capability of having multiple users add to the site.

All this info is really making my head spin.

Dizzying and Exhilarating at the same time.

What I'm Checking Out Now

In an effort to research more places to write for, and means of making money by writing from home or on the road without writing for ONE company (other than MINE), I'm joining a few content banks.

If you've got a good one that has reasonable requirements, and fair compensation, let me know. I'll make sure you get credit.

The secondary reason I'm doing this is market research. I want my network to be the most fair, most accurate, and most prized by it's own contributors and sponsors. I've seen quite a few unscrupulous ToU documents, contracts, etc... I want my network of collaborators to have ownership of their work, to be acknowledged for their work, and not abused for their dream.

Blog Meg

Blog Meg

A writer with a website looks at an old blog. The old blog begets thoughts about a new blog. Which begets thoughts of several topics. Which begets thoughts of content.

And so, I've spent my day, not looking for other places to display my writing, but developing several of my own venues. At first, I'll likely link all of my content and show articles, blog posts, helpful suggestions, across multiple venues. So, if you're wise enough to like my writing and benevolent enough to support it, don't be surprised if you see the same article on a few sites of mine (and others.) At this point it's about getting my writing out there, and building a community of readers in a variety of subjects.

As the life of each blog, website, and creative venue takes on a life of it's own, you'll see the distinct flavors take shape.

And Thank YOU, for your support!