Posted by Peter on August 25th, 2010
One of the site’s most prolific uploaders, with 130 Cloudcasts to date, the ‘best little radio station in the galaxy’ has come a long way in the two years since its inception. After the closure of Bristol’s Eat the Beat Records in 2004, the DJ/producer collective behind the shop moved to a galaxy far, far away, finding that the 130bpm squelchy bass noises they specialised in could be transmitted across space and into people’s ears via the wonders of internet radio.
The friendly ethos of the record store was transferred online, with an ever-expanding roster of DJ’s and artists playing the music they loved to a fan-base stretching far beyond the Bristol. The various shows now encompass everything from drum’n’bass to disco, hip-hop to house and everything good in-between.
We had a quick word with one of the stations founders, Matt Le Bon, and asked him what have become the standard Spotlight questions:
Why did you choose to put the station on Mixcloud?
All good things are built on simple yet effective ideas (Space Invader being no exception) and we like the idea that Mixcloud is built around the idea of ‘radio’, a concept we all know and love. No downloads, although being a problem for some, reinforce that idea and make it somehow more of a radio player or broadcaster. We want our artists to gain as much notoriety as possible and with networking aspect to the site and the depth of talent on Mixcloud already it seemed like the logical choice.
Do you think the service is compatible and complementary with an online radio station such as yourselves?
Yes of course. I think whilst we are growing and Mixcloud is growing it seems to be very complimentary. It’s a very simple way of rebroadcasting our content within a very unique environment and in turn hopefully allowing us to make some new friends for the station.
How have Space Invaders tried to make use of recent advances in online technology and social networking?
Everyone on the station is linking in via Twitter and Facebook and it has led to the birth of quite a little community. The Station was born out of a few likeminded friends wanting to get together more and get involved in the project despite the fact we hardly got to see each other as we are spread all over the world, so the networking sites have really helped us to make that happen. They have also played a huge part in the addition of loads of new and very talented people to our roster – almost 70% of the current shows on the station are made by folks we made friends with via Facebook and Twitter; we really do use it as much as we can.
What more would you like to see from the Mixcloud service, how can we improve?
Ahhh, the burning question…. well we put this one out to all the shows and there was a great response. I think the first thing we think the listeners would benefit from is some form of subscription (as per Apple podcasts) it’s a very logical next step, ‘nuff said!
Next we’d really love there to be closer integration between us and you and some way of grouping our shows under your banner that would help us and the other stations promote our respective brands. We have a very diverse array of shows on the station, all of which listen intently to what the others are doing, and we really think that listeners would benefit from being able to see all the recent Invader shows in one place and learn more about the station as a whole, not just as the sum of its parts. There were a number of requests for a widget/player that we could integrate into our site rather than just the listen again that would list all these shows and could then link back directly to Mixcloud also. That way we benefit from a player on our site and you benefit from a good advertising presence on the site too.
What can we look forward to at the station over the next few months?
Apart from the obvious global domination? Well we’ve just launched our shiny new site and I’m now desperately trying to convince our tech department that we need to push on with getting a full version of Space Invader on there for people to play with. We’re really pleased with it though, and we’re going to push on with bringing in new talent mainly, so let it be known we’re on the lookout for like-minded souls with good ears, so do get in touch if you think you have a show that will weave nicely amongst our current crop. We already have two shows coming in the autumn, with the start of our new show from Orsi – who already broadcasts on the Laidback network – and also I’ll be bringing back The Wireless after its long term hibernation. Also the Part Time Heroes monthly show has got loads of surprises in store, so check that out. Not to mention the Invader AGM in November, which is an event in itself (it took me a week to recover from last year!) and we are also working on promoting one monthly club night in Bristol and another club night in the centre of London if we can manage to find the time!
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