We Need To Pay Our Bills...Help!

(Bumped and Updated...Only $200 to go; thanks to all for chipping in. If we make more than we need for the immediate term, there's other ways for us to expand...but we'll cross that bridge if and when we come to it.)

We're coming close to royalty renewal time, and we need your help...but if you do help us by June 17, we'll make sure Altrok Radio gets even better. For details, read on...

We know you're a fan of the way we pick new music and classic tracks so that they carry on the legacy of FM106.3, WLIR and classic KROQ (with more than a small tip of the hat to the 'punk' WPIX-FM from 1978-1980 - yeah, we've been paying attention to this stuff a while.)

That's why you heard The Arcade Fire, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, Editors, The Killers, The Wombats, Ladytron, The Young Knives, The Kooks, Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip and so many more new bands here before you could ever hear them on commercial radio.

And it's why you're still hearing New Order and Joy Division, Depeche Mode, The Cure, The Smiths, Killing Joke, Echo & The Bunnymen, Siouxsie & The Banshees, and one-off tracks like "More To Lose" by Seona Dancing, "Considering A Move To Memphis" by The Colorblind James Experience and "XOYO" by The Passage that made modern rock so exciting to begin with.

We're committed to bringing you the best new music we can find from any scene that matters, and placing it alongside relevant classics that still carry forward the edge of new rock. But you know that already, and since you're here, you know there aren't very many places where you can hear this kind of mix 24 hours a day.

And while it's really great right now, we know you'd like it to be even better.

We've got a royalty fee renewal coming up on June 17, and our fees have gone up (thanks to record companies whose new records we, by and large, don't play anyway - go figure) to the extent that we need to ask you for help. We don't need a lot - only about $400, and we're about a quarter way there.

[Update: We're at the halfway point! Thanks to all who've chipped in thus far!]

So the deal is this: if we can hit our goal, we can become a 128k MP3 station. Our current 64k MP3Pro stream is nice, especially if you get the plug-in for WinAmp or the JetAudio player to hear it with, but a 128k MP3 stream just makes the whole process simpler for everyone to enjoy without installing things they aren't sure of.

With a 128k stream, you hit the play button and the quality just stays high. We're already doing it on our FM Showcase Channel, which plays all of our latest featured tracks at all times, but that's got a limit of 5 free listeners (and since it's only running two new hours a week, we figured that was fine - if it's full, come back later.)

All this assumes you've got the bandwidth necessary to enjoy it. These days, though, most people do, and for those who don't, we'll be keeping our low-bandwidth mono station around for you.

We'll also be able to keep it so that up to 40 people at a time can listen for free. We haven't maxed out on that, but we're getting close...of course, if you want to support us on a more ongoing basis, become a VIP and you'll no longer see or hear any ads, and we'll get a few pennies for every hour you listen. Over time, it adds up.

But if you want to help us directly, the best way to do it in a way that ensures it's going to help the station (not that you don't trust us, but this way you don't have to) is to send us a gift certificate through our station services provider, Live365.

Here's how:

• Log in to Live365. If you haven't already got a login, create one; it's a free account, and I haven't gotten any spam from it yet...
  

• Go to Live365's Gift Certificate page (not yet, read the instructions below first...)
  

• Choose "...or select a dollar amount" and drop down the amount you'd like to donate.

• Enter your name and email address, "Altrok Radio" under the recipient's name, and enter "fundraiserATaltrok.com" (you know to use "@" instead of "AT", right?) under the recipient's email address.

• Keep "send this gift via email" checked and the delivery date as-is (that means we'll get it immediately.)

• Click the Next button, enter your credit card (or PayPal or money order) information, and confirm the order. We'll get an email with the certificate info, and we'll use it the only way we can - to build our stations.

Ready? Okay, here's the link to the gift certificate page.

We really appreciate anything you can spare - from the $5 you can scrape together up to the $100 we'd be pleasantly surprised by - and not only will you be helping us stay on the air directly, you'll be convincing me you're out there caring about this stuff, and you'll making us sound better than we do now. (Yes, there is something in it for you!)

In advance, thanks!