Live audio streaming
Audio streaming hosting for anything you broadcast live
Audio streaming hosting from Primcast takes the sound from your mixer or microphone and puts it on a secure https:// link that plays in any browser, for up to 5,000 listeners at once. You can start free, with room for 1,000.
A Sunday service, a match commentary, a weekly talk show, a DJ set from your bedroom: the job is the same, and so is the panel you run it from.
What people stream
Live audio streaming for the job in front of you
You do not have to call it a radio station. If it makes a sound and people want to hear it live, it streams the same way.
Services and sermons
Members who cannot make it in can still listen. Post the week's services on your public line-up. Read about church streaming.
Matches and commentary
Call the game from the stands with a laptop or a hardware encoder, and fans hear it on their phones, wherever they are.
Talk shows and live podcasts
Go live on a schedule, bring in a guest with a link on Platinum, and check your listener figures after every show.
DJ sets
Stream from the same software you mix in. Up to 320 Kbps on Platinum, so the set sounds the way you played it.
Events and conferences
Put the main room's sound online for people who could not travel. For pictures as well as sound, see event streaming.
A station of your own
When the live shows turn into a schedule, add Auto DJ and you have a full station. That is our radio hosting.
Go live tab
Four ways to get on air
- Encoder software. Mixxx, BUTT, RadioBOSS or SAM Broadcaster, with the settings the tab prints. Every plan.
- A hardware encoder. Plug in your desk and broadcast with no computer at all. See hardware encoders.
- Your browser. The studio in the panel takes your microphone, nothing to install. Premium and Platinum.
- A guest link. Send one to a contributor and they go live from their own browser. Platinum.
Plans
Pick the plan by how many will listen
All three stream over https://, with unmetered bandwidth and the same panel. Bandwidth never shows up on your bill, so a packed Sunday costs the same as a quiet one.
$0 a month
Setup $5, paid once. 1,000 listeners at 32 Kbps, from your own encoder. Fine for speech.
Closest-server delivery is on Platinum
Start free$39 a month
2,500 listeners at 128 Kbps, the browser studio, 5 presenter logins and Auto DJ between shows. Or $390 a year.
Free for 14 days Card or PayPal at checkout, first charge on day 15
Closest-server delivery is on Platinum
Choose PremiumGlobal radio CDN: listeners and your encoder on the closest of five cities.
$79 a month
5,000 listeners at 320 Kbps, guest links, a backup encoder and 90 days of audience history. Or $790 a year.
Free for 14 days Card or PayPal at checkout, first charge on day 15
Choose Platinum| Feature | Free | Premium | Platinum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Radio CDN · Platinum only | |||
| Listeners hear you from the closest of five cities | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Your encoder connects to the closest city | Not included | Not included | Included |
| If a server fails, the next closest city takes over | Not included | Not included | Included |
| On air | |||
| People listening at the same time | 1,000 | 2,500 | 5,000 |
| Monthly allowance of listener hours | No monthly allowance | 500,000 | 1.5 million |
| Best sound quality you can send | 32 Kbps | 128 Kbps | 320 Kbps |
| Streams (extras are lighter copies for phones) | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Secure https:// link and a player that works in any browser | Included | Included | Included |
| Connect an Icecast or a SHOUTcast encoder | Included | Included | Included |
| Live shows and DJs | |||
| DJ logins, each with its own hours on air | Not included | 5 | 20 |
| Go live from your browser, nothing to install | Not included | Included | Included |
| Live DJs take over and hand back on their own, plus a kill switch | Not included | Included | Included |
| An alert if the station goes silent | Not included | Included | Included |
| A backup encoder and gapless handovers between DJs | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Invite a guest on air with a link | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Your audience | |||
| How far back your stats go | 7 days | 30 days | 90 days |
| Countries, devices, apps, referring sites and listening time | Not included | Included | Included |
| Results for every show and playlist | Not included | Included | Included |
| Which songs make people switch off, and traffic quality checks | Not included | Not included | Included |
| CSV downloads and email reports on a schedule | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Free trial | |||
| Try it before the first charge | Not included | 14-day trial | 14-day trial |
Auto DJ, licensing records and the station app, plan by plan, are on our radio hosting page.
Try Premium or Platinum free for 14 days
Add a card or PayPal when you sign up and nothing is charged before day 15. Cancel before then and you pay nothing at all. One trial per new customer, and one more when you move up from Free or Premium.
Radio CDN, on Platinum
Your listeners hear you from the server closest to them
Your station lives in New York or Bucharest. On Platinum, each listener connects to the closest of our five cities instead, and so does your encoder. Every one of those servers pulls a single copy of your stream, however many people are listening there.
One link for every listener
Share your station's CDN link. Whoever opens it is answered by our server closest to where they are, and everybody listening through that city shares a single copy of your stream.
Your encoder stops at the closest server
Use the Nearest server settings and that server relays your show to your station's own server. Your password, your DJs' hours and your show all work exactly as they do now.
A server that goes quiet is skipped
We check every server every 10 seconds. One that misses 2 checks in a row is taken out, and anyone who reconnects is sent to the next closest city.
An audience on several continents? Platinum puts a server near each of them
Nobody has to reach across an ocean to hear you: each listener, and your encoder, connects in or near their own region. When we measured it, sound started 0.25–0.7 seconds after the player connected.
- North America
- New York
- Latin America and the Caribbean
- Miami
- Western Europe
- Amsterdam
- Eastern Europe
- Bucharest
- North Africa, and Africa beyond it
- Amsterdam
- The Middle East
- Bucharest
- West Asia: Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan
- Bucharest
- South and Central Asia
- Bucharest
- Asia-Pacific
- San Francisco
On Platinum, your dashboard's Radio section adds your CDN link and your Nearest server details. Free and Premium stations are reached directly, on the server they live on. Every plan keeps the links and settings you have now. How our radio CDN works
Questions
Live audio streaming, the common questions
Can I stream live audio for free?
Yes. The free plan streams to 1,000 listeners at once at 32 Kbps and never expires. There is a $5 setup fee, paid once, and no monthly charge.
What do I need to stream live audio?
Your sound source, a way to send it, and a plan. Free software such as Mixxx turns a laptop into an encoder, a hardware encoder does it without a computer, and on Premium and Platinum the studio in your browser needs nothing installed at all.
Can people listen on their phones?
Yes. The link is https://, so it plays in the browser on any phone, tablet or computer, and inside secure websites and apps. On Premium and Platinum you can also have your own iPhone and Android app.
Can I send RTMP, like I would to a video platform?
No. This is audio over Icecast: your encoder sends an Icecast or a SHOUTcast stream, which every common audio encoder can do. If you want pictures with the sound, our video streaming takes RTMP.
Is it only for radio stations?
Not at all. Churches, sports clubs, schools, podcasters and event organizers can all stream live audio on the same plans. You get a station page and a show line-up anyway, which helps listeners find your next broadcast.
What sound quality can I stream?
Up to 32 Kbps on Free, which suits speech, 128 Kbps on Premium, which suits most music, and 320 Kbps on Platinum, plus lighter extra streams for listeners on a weak mobile signal.
What if more people want to listen than my plan allows?
Each plan has a firm ceiling: 1,000, 2,500 or 5,000 at once. Move up a plan before a big broadcast and your link stays the same. Above Platinum, tell us your expected peak and we will quote it.
Your next live broadcast can have an audience online
Open a free plan, connect your encoder and send people the link. When the audience grows, the same link carries on through Premium and Platinum.