An online radio station or a continuous broadcast cannot run on an ordinary hosting plan. A website hands a file to whoever asks and is then free; a broadcast keeps a connection open with every listener for as long as they listen, and that is what a streaming server was built to manage. For continuous audio we have the Streaming Server plans, with their own panel. For live video, the usual route is a video service, or a VPS if you want to build everything your own way.
Which route for which project
| What you want to do |
What fits |
| Online radio, around the clock, with a playlist and live shows |
Streaming Server, with the SonicPanel panel and the AutoDJ that plays when nobody is live. See Streaming Server: first steps with SonicPanel. |
| Podcast episodes or recordings to download |
An ordinary hosting plan is fine, if downloads are occasional and not hundreds at the same time. |
| Live video for many people |
A video service, embedded in your site. Video is far heavier than audio. |
| A video platform of your own, with software you choose |
A VPS, with root access and the administration on your side. See shared hosting vs VPS. |
Choosing the streaming plan
| 1 |
Count simultaneous listeners, not daily ones. What decides the plan is the peak: how many people listen at the same moment. A station with many listeners a day rarely has them all together.
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| 2 |
Pick the audio bitrate. It sets the quality and also how much data each listener spends. High bitrates sound better but shut out people on limited mobile data or weak connections. Many stations broadcast at two qualities.
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| 4 |
Keep the website separate. The station’s site (schedule, news) goes on a hosting plan and embeds the player. Each does its own job.
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What a streaming server does for you
It receives the signal from your encoder (the program you speak through live, or the AutoDJ when nobody is on), converts it and distributes it to every listener. Each listener connects to a stream address, which you put in the player embedded in your site or in a radio app. The streaming server handles the distribution; your website stays a website.
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Copyright. Broadcasting music to the public may require licences for the music you play. The server does not solve that, and the responsibility is the broadcaster’s. Find out before you go on air to the public.
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Want to launch a station or a broadcast and unsure what to pick? Tell us how many listeners you expect and what you will broadcast.
Open a support ticket
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