Why The Lot Radio Streams 24/7 With Livepeer Studio
Founded in 2016 by Francois Vaxelaire, The Lot Radio is an independent online radio station that broadcasts a 24/7 livestream of over 165 resident DJs. True to its artistic roots, The Lot Radio is housed in a reclaimed shipping container in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and provides a public space for enjoying electronic, disco, and soul music.
“It’s a regular 20-foot shipping container that we redesigned. It’s exactly divided in two. On the left side, you have a radio studio. On the right side, we have a kiosk where we sell beer, wine, and coffee. That’s how we finance the whole operation”
Over one million minutes of video have been transcoded by The Lot Radio since it started live streaming on the Livepeer network almost two years ago.
Discovering Livepeer Studio
Francois initially used livestream.com because it was one of the only 24/7 live streaming services available, and it was a local company that provided a lot of hands-on support. However, he needed to find a new solution after livestream.com was acquired by Vimeo and stopped offering its 24/7 service. Francois searched for an alternative, but discovered that it was difficult to find a live streaming platform that was affordable — this was important as The Lot Radio is a not-for-profit organization.
He eventually stumbled upon Livepeer Studio in a Google search and found the website intriguing, even though he didn’t know much about “the blockchain.” Francois was impressed by how easy it was to start using Livepeer, and in just a few clicks, he was live streaming.
“Basically, the fun thing was that you could start directly. I remember I [created] an account, I clicked a few clicks, and my RTMP server was set up. I tested directly with myself, it was streaming, and I was like — this seems pretty legit”
After successfully live streaming a few of his events, Francois reached out to the Livepeer Studio core team to learn more about the project.
“It has been a pleasure. When I reached out for the first time, they directly organized a big meeting with, kind of, all of the core team of the project… And since then, to be honest, the project is so stable, that I don’t really have to communicate with [Livepeer Studio] ever… we just keep updated from time to time about the new technology, but overall, it does the job, the price is really affordable, and we’re really happy about it”
After almost two years of broadcasting music, The Lot Radio is still successfully running — the affordability of Livepeer Studio being a key reason.
Future Plans
The Lot Radio has big plans for the future. They want to keep growing and provide an independent stage for more resident DJs and other creative talents. Francois wants to eventually purchase a brick-and-mortar location, and build two new multimedia studios.
Additionally, Francois’ experience with Livepeer Studio has sparked his curiosity about the potential of web3. He plans on making the full transition to a decentralized future when the time is right for The Lot Radio.
“We feel it’s too early, like some things are missing here and there, but [it’s] definitely somewhere we want to go and that’s also why I’m excited to work with Livepeer Studio— because, for us, it’s one foot already towards there, and that’s where we want to go for sure”
Check out the full interview with Francois Vaxelaire.
