RADIOOOOO.com

WHAT IS RADIOOOOO.COM ?

RADIOOOOO is a musical time machine that allows listeners from all over the world to discover musical treasures from any country over a century and more thanks to its innovative and playful system!

Pick a country, pick a decade from the 1900s to today and let yourself get carried away by the most beautiful musical library the world has to offer.

Help us change the way we listen to music on the internet! 

Become a part of our cultural and musical revolution!

The website will be accessible on www.radioooooooooo.com .

It will be available on all mobile devices (computers/smartphones and tablets).

THE GENESIS -presentation by Benjamin Moreau - the president ;)

The idea of Radiooooo.com was born on a day I climbed into a collector car from the 60s.

My father had just bought this magnificent french sportscar and as I sat down in its red leatherette seat, I was transported into another time.

My fingers strolled along the bakelite wheel, then stopped upon the deliciously vintage auto radio. 

I twisted the knob to turn it on and came across Radio xxx broadcasting some abominable commercial techno music, in complete contrast with the old fashioned charm of my time bubble automobile.

The idea of creating a musical time machine was in the works.

For 8 years, with a small group of friends, we had worked on creating the musical identity of the Le Baron clubs throughout the world. We had accumulated a large and eclectic collection, from all around the globe, from all periods of time, to create the unique Le Baron sound but, more importantly, subsequent enough to allow us to embark on our endeavor and start this crazy project:

To provide an organized collection of the world's greatest musical treasures, by decade and region, over a century.

My original idea consisted in rendering the fruit of our research easily accessible.

Our work as musical selectors has indeed become a laborious activity that consists in digging deep enough through the web's entrails, via a multitude of specialized blogs, to find the few gems buried out there but, also by digitalizing a colossal amount of music that was nowhere to be found on the internet.

Internet allows you to find almost everything but, you have to know where to look.

The heart of this project resides thus in radically changing the way of searching for good music on the internet for a user who does not have the time to look for it, making this musical and cultural experience accessible to all.

Listening to music is always a journey, a teleportation, a trip. Including a map of the world was therefore obvious. It would allow you to wander through the globe and let yourself get carried away to new and different horizons by the music.

The concept of the radio was also interresting as it seems obsolete today.

In an interactive world, where everything is about efficiency, the radio is the antipode of the internet. No choice to be made, no research possible, it's something that is imposed on you. 

It's this principle that nonetheless seduced me, that of a media, made by humans for humans, that allows you to just let yourself go.

In a certain measure, not having to choose has become a luxury. 

The luxury of having a friend who knows what's what, where to go and who to see, who takes you by the hand on a voyage.

We therefore imagined our radio 2.0 as a rather easy-to-use tool.

It's a mutant crossed between a radio and a time travel machine:

A map of the world, a time cursor.

The second step was confronting ourselves to the colossal extent of the project.

The planet seems so small when you look at it on Google Earth but, when it comes to finding the hits from the 50s in Tanzania or Kazakhstan, the world takes on a much bigger and imposing scale.

To be able to cover a sufficiently large spectrum of music through the planet over a century, we started looking for human help.

For if it is easy for a 65 year old Kazakh to tell us what was the best music playing there in the 50s, it's a much tougher mission for a frenchman in his 30's to do so.

We thus started building up a network of people all across the planet willing to help us find the local Serge Gainsbourg.

The good news is that we quickly realized that we were not alone, that people who possess musical culture like to share it and are easily capable of offering their knowledge.

Before being a commercial item, music is something meant to be shared, a medium of exchange, that values the person who possesses the information. 

The essence of the site therefore took a turn towards the exchange of information, feeding its own database.

Each listener has the possibility to join the global community, to supply it with its own personal knowledge.

The listener, if he or she wishes to, can become an actor, a contributor to the site.

On the inside, we shall remain mere moderators to assure the level of quality is upheld throughout the ensemble of the database.

The project started 10 months ago now, thanks to the enthusiasm of a small group of people, ready to sacrifice their time and energy in service of this good cause.

First it began with my friends, all passionate about music, all djs and, all at the origin of the club Le Baron in Paris. 

They will be introduced shortly.

Then it moved forward thanks to several different and important people.

Emmanuel Perrotin, my famous gallerist (for I am foremost an artist, member of the duo Kolkoz) who invested the start up capital, whiteout which nothing would have been possible. As an investor of course, but mostly as our generous benefactor and moral compass. This allowed us to rent an office, hire interns and a lawyer (amongst other things), making us capable of carrying the project to a more serious level.

Raphael Hamburger (Hamburger Records) is the co-founder of RADIOOOOO.com. He is the one I turned to when I decided this project should turn to something more concrete. As a renowned music producer, he helped me understand the various issues RADIOOOOO would have to deal with and he shares with us his precious knowledge regarding music industry.

Rodrigue Borja de Mozota, head of La Bonne Grosse Agence, has joined RADIOOOOO.com's board as our very special geek. RADIOOOOO's website also talks about the meeting point between new-technologies requirements and a more traditional artistic point of view. A lot of misunderstandings and long talks later, we are proud of the result!

Our project is at a crucial stage, one that will determine its rise or fall.

We hope it will reach its successful outcome because it deserves to. 

Its essence is generous and positive, it speaks of knowledge, of beauty and of sharing. 

We thought it up as an expedition, like a treasure hunt throughout the world, throughout time.

This mission is only just beginning and we need your help to see it through!

And now, I'll let my RADIOOOOO team members introduce themselves:

Anne Claire (head of business affairs):

I had been working in different sectors as an international business lawyer for 5 years. When I first met Benjamin, he was all about this fantastic dream he wanted to come true. He sounded like a crazy fool and my professional skepticism was about to win. He however had awoke my curiosity and I had to figure out whether this project was doable or not. That’s how I ended up a part of this beautiful RADIOOOOO.com. From creating the legal structure of the company to dealing with the authors’ societies to secure the launch of RADIOOOOO, I am proud to be part of this adventure. I would never have imagined how a business project could become such a huge part of one’s life and a source of true human and professional fulfillment. Offering everyone a way to travel through musical space and time is such an amazing challenge! I can’t help but think that bringing together people around the world is the best way to make us all better. And music is a universal medium!

Noemi Ferst (musical director and graphic designer) :

As music pioneers of the great world wide web, my fellow melomen and myself have been collecting musical gems from the four corners of the planet, treasures lost in time, for the past decade. We thought it was about time we shared them with the world. With you. As a djette, and an fervent music lover, born in the 80s, raised to the sound of the 60s and falling in love with the 70s, I've been listening to, playing and collecting music from far beyond my years, from all over the world since I can possibly remember. It was only natural for me to be easily compelled by this passionate project that is Radiooooo. The idea of compiling one of the greatest musical archives, filled with long lost songs, more than deserving to be heard by its future generations, and given a second chance to shine from the past, navigating through time, through the sound of music, how could you possibly say no to such a beautiful endeavor! Music being our universal language, I couldn't possibly see a better way in sharing what the world has to say. 

As an illustrator and an artist, given the chance to create a world of our own, literally, line by line, dot by dot, to make something with our hands and our hearts and being able to share our vision with you, was the other aspect the drew me into creating Radiooooo. The map was conceived as a work of art, not just a mere interface. As was the entire web site. We feel that in this day and age where everything goes by so fast, most of it built artificially, it was high time to actually take the time to stop, listen and look. This radio was fueled by our desire to come back to something real. It was made by human beings for our fellow mankind. Each song selected, each line drawn, was hand picked and hand made with love. Learning to go back to the essentials. Letting oneself get carried away. That's all I've ever wanted.

That's Radiooooo.

Radiooooo is a dream. A delirious, mad, crazy dream. But a devine one too, that will hopefully become real if we all come together and make it come true.

Alex Pan ( musical director):

Thanks to my parents, I was raised to classical and discovered music theory, the piano and the cello at the Conservatory as a child. This formation taught me there is a wild variety of music and musical treasures hidden in each genre, each period, each country. I started collecting music at a very early age and have always been passionate about making others discover new sounds. That’s how I began working as a DJ into various nightclubs across the planet and especially at Le Baron, where musical diversity was encouraged. Being a DJ allowed me to travel all around the world making people from all cultures dance on the very best of music. As the years went by, finding a way to share this knowledge became an obsession : how to reach out to people who love good music ? How to create a worldwide community guided by the feeling that knowledge is meant to be shared ? Creating a radio was the obvious answer. A radio which shall no longer classify music by genre, majors or months but by mood, countries and decades. Through this radiooooo, I’m sharing my experience, it’s a life changing adventure. Each one of the treasures I brought to Radiooooo tells a peculiar story, that only journeys can offer.

Radiooooo.com is the first step to a revolution. It offers a new way to listen to music, to understand why it is a need for every human being. Fellow melomen, you are not alone anymore. 

Join RADIOOOOO.com !

Victor Kiswell (musical director) :

Life has its beautiful outcomes. I was not involved in the project from the beginning but when I first heard about it, believe it or not, I felt I would be part of it. As a dj and a listener I have always been fond of the principle of the radio. And my hidden dream was to work for an open-minded radio station, where I could play Italian or Venezuelian bossa nova, Japanese soundtracks, Lebanese and Indian groove, Lithuanian disco, psychedelic cumbia, electronic kraufunk or latin and afro beat. My chance was to meet the team at Radiooooo, to be delighted and excited by their beautiful project and to quickly adhere to their views and integrate the crew, willing to share what I knew about music and, of course, to discover new territories. The passion of traveling, of history and anthropology and, my taste for musical crossbreeding led me to investigate in every direction on earth, trying to capture some fresh and exotic sounds that would please djs and producers I have to provide in rare records. I now feel legitimate in that team and I will spend the same energy in this adventure I spend in my passions. The motto is : not an accumulation, but a selection.

It's just another story that starts with a phone call. A musical entusiast friend of mine rung me up and asked if I was paticularly fond of any music from a certain country. Without thinking, I answered: "Japan". And thus I began my adventure with Radiooooo! From a far a first, just by sending in a few songs every week. It was only until I was introduced to the whole team behind the project that my involvement grew deeper. They invited me to stop by their headquarters and see the magic in making. The day I accepted, I had a different agenda. I was looking for an internship and was on my way to an interview in a music enterprise when I decided to drop by. As soon as I set foot at Radiooooo, a parallel universe opened up to me. A place where music had no limites, nor period, and where paper bird flew free. That was it for me. I would never leave. This is how I found myself working inadvertently for the wonderful endeavor that is Radiooooo. Now, it has been several months since my journey began, through the music, all around the world. Having been passionate about music since my childhood, never in my wildest dream could i have possibly imagined stumbling onto a place like this, a Radiooooo like this. A radio that does not limit itself in period or style, but that transmits and incredible musical knowledge to all. Being a part of this adventure, is being a part of the creation of one of the most beautiful musical libraries of all time. Being a part of something grand.

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