Moving a station to CloudRadio One means building it again on CloudRadio, running it next to the old stream for a while, and moving each place listeners find you before you switch the old host off. CloudRadio has no import tool for another host's library, schedule or statistics, so you set those up by hand.
Do it in this order:
- Upload your library
- Rebuild rotation and schedule
- Connect your encoder
- Run both streams in parallel
- Update your player and links
- Update directory listings
- Redirect or relay the old stream
- Close the old account
Before you start
- Create a CloudRadio One station. Setup takes a few seconds, and the station plays your library on shuffle as soon as it has tracks.
- Keep your old host running until the last step. Listeners only move as fast as their links do.
- Get your music files. Use the originals you uploaded to the old host, or download them from it if it lets you.
- Save or export what the old host keeps that CloudRadio can't read: listener statistics, play history and royalty reports.
What doesn't carry over
| From the old host | What happens |
|---|---|
| Stream address | Your CloudRadio station has its own addresses, built on an 8-character code that never changes. The old address keeps working only while the old account is open. |
| Listener history | Statistics on CloudRadio start from the day your station goes on air. Older figures stay with the old host, so export them before you close it. |
| Directory listings, app presets, saved links | They point at the old address until you, or the directory, change them. |
| Website player | The old player plays the old stream. You replace it with a CloudRadio player. |
| Library, playlists and schedule | Uploaded and rebuilt by hand on CloudRadio. |
What the old host may allow is a redirect or a relay on the old mount, so players that still use the old address reach your CloudRadio stream. See Redirect or relay the old stream.
Upload your library
- Open your station and go to Media Library in the left sidebar.
- Drag your files onto the page, or click Browse files to pick files, or Import folder to upload a whole folder.
A folder import can turn folder names into tags, which helps if your old host's library was organised in folders. Each file can be up to 500 MB, in MP3, MP2, M4A, FLAC, WAV, OGG, Opus or AIFF. Every track is levelled to about -14 LUFS as it's processed. See Media Library.
Rebuild rotation and schedule
- Go to Playlists and click Create playlist for each group of music: your core rotation, genre blocks, jingles, shows.
- Set each playlist's Rotation level to Light, Medium or Heavy, or Off (Library only) for playlists that air only when scheduled.
- Go to Schedule and add an event for each slot from your old schedule. The Event type is Playlist, Live DJ or Relay.
Event times are in your station's timezone, so check it before you copy times across from the old host. For DJs with their own show slots, invite them from Users with the DJ or Guest DJ role and book Live DJ events; each one gets a personal login. See Playlists, Weighted Rotation, Schedule and Scheduled DJ Shows.
Connect your encoder
- Go to Live DJ in the left sidebar.
- Copy the connection URL from the Studio Input card, or open Manual settings for the Server, Port, Mount path, Username (
source) and Password. - Add these to your encoder as a new server.
CloudRadio only accepts Icecast input. If your old host used the Shoutcast protocol, set the new server to Icecast 2 or Icecast / HTTP in your encoder. The recommended setting is 256 kbps AAC. When you connect, your live audio takes over from the AutoDJ. See Broadcasting Live.
Run both streams in parallel
Keep the old stream on the air while you build up the new one. Listen to your CloudRadio stream on a phone and a computer, and check that song titles show and the schedule plays at the right times.
For live shows, if your encoder can send to two servers at once, keep the old server as a second connection. Otherwise, choose which host carries each live show; the other one plays its AutoDJ.
Turn on alerts now, so you hear about a CloudRadio outage before your listeners do. They start switched off: the dashboard's Getting started checklist has Enable alert notifications. See Alert Notifications.
Keep both streams running through the next three steps, until your website, links and directories all point at CloudRadio.
Update your player and links
Replace every place on your own sites that plays or links to the old stream:
- Website player: go to Players, click New player, then copy the code from the Embed tab into your site in place of the old player. See Web Player.
- Listen link without a website: the Station page in the sidebar gives you a public page with its own link and a QR code. See Station page.
- Direct stream address: go to Widgets & Links, then Direct Listen Links. The ICY Stream card has your stream address in HTTPS and HTTP, for apps, smart speakers and any link to the raw stream. See Widgets & Links.
Update the links in your social profiles, email signature and anything printed with the old address or QR code.
Update directory listings
Directories, and the apps that read them, keep playing the old address until the listing changes. Go to Directories in the left sidebar. Your stream URL at the top is the address to give every directory, with a copy button.
Automatic directories are the ones CloudRadio submits for you:
- Radio Browser: click Submit now. This creates a new listing, and the old host's listing stays as it is with the old address. CloudRadio doesn't update a Radio Browser listing after you submit.
- SHOUTcast: listed once you paste your SHOUTcast authhash.
- Icecast directory: one click lists your station, and CloudRadio keeps the listing online.
Manual directories, TuneIn and the rest, are ones you submit yourself. Where you're already listed, change the stream address on your existing listing through that directory's own form or support, rather than adding the station again, so you keep the listing. Mark each one with I submitted to track its status on the page.
See Directory Submission for what each directory asks for.
Redirect or relay the old stream
Some listeners will keep the old address: saved presets, Wi-Fi radios, directories you missed. Ask your old host whether it can do one of these on your old mount:
- Redirect: the old address sends players to your CloudRadio stream address.
- Relay: the old server pulls your CloudRadio stream and plays it on the old address.
Use the HTTPS or HTTP address from the ICY Stream card. That address sends each player to a nearby CloudRadio server with a redirect, so the old host's relay has to follow redirects. Either option lasts only as long as the old account stays open, and some hosts allow neither.
Close the old account
Close the old account when the old stream has few listeners left and the directories you rely on play your CloudRadio stream. Before you do, export the statistics and reports you want to keep. Once the old account closes, the old address stops working, and so does any redirect or relay on it.