Christmas Music 24/7

• Christmas Music 24/7 was "Site of the Day" for the Sleepy Eye Herald-Dispatch on December 25th, 2009: http://christmasmusic247.com/x/io #

Now that the 2009 Christmas season is over, most of my stations revert back to VIP mode. This means you must be a Live365 VIP in order to listen to the station. This year I am experimenting with playing non-Christmas music on some of my smaller stations. I’ve just finished uploading over 26 hours of music to my Contemporary Christian Music radio station. There are a few Christmas tunes scattered throughout, but the station won’t be exclusively Christmas music until the Fall. Give it a listen! The station is featuring artists like Petra, Amy Grant, Watermark, Glenn Kaiser, Roby Duke, Al Denson, Jim Hill, Sandi Patti, and David Meece.

If you’d like to be a VIP, simply click the green “Become a VIP” button on the station page.

• The most popular tracks of the 2009 Christmas season, as played on Christmas Music 24/7: http://christmasmusic247.com/goto/435 #

Here are the most popular tracks of the 2009 Christmas season:

Christmas Music 24/7 Traditional:

1. Mannheim Steamroller – Auld Lang Syne – Christmas Extraordinaire
2. Vince Guaraldi – Linus and Lucy – A Charlie Brown Christmas
3. Mannheim Steamroller – Pat A Pan – Christmas In The Aire
4. Liona Boyd – Ave Maria – Christmas Dreams
5. Az One – Silent Night – Christmas With Az One

Christmas Music 24/7 Jazz/Instrumental:

1. The Airmen Of Note – Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane) – Cool Yule
2. Christine Drescher-Jones & Richard Jones – The Coventry Carol – Simplicity Christmas Vol. 4 Harp & Woodwinds
3. Amy Lauren – Midnight Snow – Winter & Christmas
4. Sam Skelton – Little Drummer Boy – Simplicity Christmas Vol. 2 Saxaphone
5. Michael Dulin – Mary’s Babe’s a-Sleeping – Christmas At Our House

• Happy New Year! I hope your 2010 is awesome! #

• Free song: http://christmasmusic247.com/x/hh Michael Krahn, "Glory To God On High" #

I’d like to thank everyone for their support of Christmas Music 24/7 in 2010. But realistically, it looks like we aren’t going to make our goal of $5,000 by the end of Christmas Day. What does that mean for the stations for next year?

First the good news: Live365 has created a new broadcast package that I am eligible for. So in 2010 there will be four “professional grade” Christmas stations in the network, up from two this year. So I will be able to grow the network significantly next year at little added expense.

The bad news: I was hoping to use the Kickstarter funds to create some new resources on the ChristmasMusic247.com web site. The first was a database of concerts for the Christmas 2010 season. The basic database system I already have, but managing the data was going to take a lot of work, and these funds would have made that possible.

The second resource I was hoping to add was a more detailed listing of the music I play on the station. I wanted to have information for each artist, song and album, all cross-referenced, making it easier for fans to either buy the music they hear, or to support the musicians they enjoy.

If you’d like to make a donation to me directly, you can do that at my Christmas Music 24/7 donations page. I don’t think I’ll still be able to offer any of the rewards that were offered in the Kickstarter campaign. Let me know if that is a hindrance from making a donation, I’m sure I can work something out.

Merry Christmas! And thank you for your support of the station.

• Twelve Tips For Getting Airplay: http://www.christmasmusic247.com/goto/416 #
• Associated Press: Not such a Silent Night in Bethlehem: Jesus' traditional birth place gets rock festival: http://christmasmusic247.com/x/h0 #
• Associated Press: A group of 10 a cappella singers, Straight No Chaser, hoping for mainstream success: http://christmasmusic247.com/x/h1 #
• The Traditional and Jazz stations combined have reach over 1,000,000 total listener hours in the past 30 days. Thanks for listening! #

You’ve just spent a fair amount of money on studio time, musicians, CD jacket design, disc duplication, mailing. So obviously you want to get your music out to as many listeners as possible. One way to do that is by reaching out to Internet radio stations. Here are twelve tips that you should keep in mind, based on my experiences running a network of Internet radio stations over the past six years:

[Read more →]

• The Helper: http://christmasmusic247.com/x/gl (A Christmas story written in 2006 by Blake M. Petit) #
• Check out the Christmas Music 24/7 Store at http://christmasmusic247.com/store/ Most of the music we play on any station is available. #