ABOUT MARDI GRAS MUSIC RADIO

Mardi Gras Music Radio is a collaboration between Mardi Gras Unmasked and the world’s largest Internet radio network, Live365. With over four million listeners a month and thousands of stations spanning a myriad of genres, Live365 is the antidote to what commercial music radio has become in the 21st century: homogenized, formulaic and dominated by large corporations that shun artists and genres not deemed “commercially viable.”

Live 365 is a community of stations programmed by people who are passionate about the music they play. And unlike freeloading Internet broadcast infringers who stream music in flagrant violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Live365 respects the ownership rights of artists, publishers and record labels, paying royalties for every song you hear. (Fact: Legitimate Internet broadcasters pay significantly higher royalty rates than terrestrial broadcasters.)

Live365’s comprehensive royalty/licensing coverage, through agreements with organizations like SoundExchange, ASCAP, BMI and SESAC, is key to pointing the way to the future of Internet radio—a future in which artists can look forward to being fairly compensated for broadcasts of their work and millions of listeners can enjoy a range of talent that has no rival in the realm of commercial terrestrial radio. Live365 is, in fact, the perfect vehicle for independent voices and emerging artists to reach new and existing audiences worldwide.

SUSTAINING A LIFELINE

Mardi Gras Unmasked subscribes to the notion that music is New Orleans’s unique gift to the world and its most valuable cultural resource. “In this city that holds so many roots of American song,” New York Times writer Jon Parales attests, “music is more than entertainment.  It’s a ritual and a lifeline….”

It’s also the essential draw for many first-time visitors: a powerful aphrodisiac that often inspires lifelong love affairs with the Crescent City’s etherial mystique and abundant sensual charms.

Mardi Gras Music Radio is a shout-out to Carnival’s pivotal role in helping make the birthplace of jazz arguably the greatest musical Mecca on the planet. "Carnival, by providing the audience, the money, and the forum in which to develop music and musicians, helped create the New Orleans music tradition," historian Reid Mitchell, in his book All on a Mardi Gras Day: Episodes in the History of New Orleans Carnival (Harvard University Press, 1995), observes.

Mardi Gras Music Radio aims to deepen the world’s appreciation for this incredibly rich tradition and help sustain the economic livelihoods of the artists who keep it going. Mardi Gras Unmasked pays a monthly broadcast subscription fee to Live365, based on the amount of listener usage of Mardi Gras Music Radio. The more you listen, the more Mardi Gras Unmasked pays to Live365 and the more Live365 pays to the royalty collection organizations. Thus, we ask our audience to not only support sponsors of Mardi Gras Unmasked and Mardi Gras Music Radio, but also to purchase the music of Louisiana musicians and hire them for gigs. You can also help by making a donation to Mardi Gras Unmasked or becoming a VIP subscriber to Live365 (click here for a free five-day trail membership).

VIP SUBSCRIPTION BENEFITS

The best way to enjoy all that Live365 has to offer, a VIP subscription, if you sign up for a full year, costs just $5.95 a month. Benefits include unrestricted access to the 6000-plus stations on Live365. This is noteworthy because there’s a limit to the number of non-VIP listeners who can simultaneously access any given station on the Live365 network. When that capacity limit is reached and the station is, in effect, “sold out,” new users are blocked from accessing the station. However, VIP listeners can tune into their favorite stations at any time, without having to worry about being denied access.

VIP membership also provides free access to the Radio365 desktop player, a convenient way to jump on the Live365 network. Your preset stations are just a click away, and presets are automatically synched on all your devices. Finally, VIP listeners aren’t presented with advertisements from Live365 or its sponsors.

MARDI GRAS MUSIC TO GO

Mardi Gras Music Radio is the perfect enhancement to your Mardi Gras party or parade-viewing picnic. You can play our CD-quality station on an iPhone, Blackberry or other Internet-enabled mobile device. Simply connect the device to a portable player/boom box, and let revelry reign as the infectious sounds of Mardi Gras Music Radio fill the air!