Radio startup Jelli has received a patent on the concept of user-controlled broadcasting. The company first launched in 2009 and its founder has billed it as the "Digg for streaming music."
Jelli enables local radio stations' listeners to control the music selection and playlists. The patent (U.S. Patent No. 8,392,206) is called "Social Broadcasting User Experience," and covers a range of methods related to audience participation with a one-to-many transmission, Techcrunch reported.
Jelli CEO Michael Dougherty said the patent was filed in 2007 as a provisional patent before the startup launched. In 2008, Jelli applied for a full patent as part of filing for several patents around the concept of user-controlled broadcasting.
"We always thought it was a big idea to combine the reach of broadcast with the engagement of the web," Dougherty said.
The patent broadly covers "the concepts and user interaction methods around audiences engaging with one-to-many 'broadcasts,' whether they be defined as radio, TV, in-venue, etc., or delivered via streaming, terrestrial, caching, cable, satellite, etc.," Dougherty told Techcrunch. "It also covers many methods and UI examples of how the audiences can socially engage," he said, including playlist voting, algorithms to determine what is chosen next, a rock meter, Jelli's own "rocket" design, game mechanics, social attribution and various access methods.
Jelli raised $9 million in funding last October and reported that 70 radio stations across the U.S. were deploying its technology to crowd-source their music selections, up from the 20 partnerships it had as of March 2012. In February, Jelly signed a deal with Entercom, giving its total platform reach to 23.5 million weekly listeners across more than 175 radio stations and 80-plus cities.
According to Techcrunch, Jelli is one of several companies in the listener-controlled radio field. LDR Interactive technology has been implemented by Cox Media in the U.S. and has built similar "crowdcasting" solutions for more than 150 stations around the world.
