Indie Lifecasting
Things really do happen faster on Internet time. Turns out one of Hawaii's first "professional lifecasters" is already going independent.
Star 101.9's Maleko showed early interest in lifecasting, and was (along with yours truly) a finalist in Ustream's "Lifecaster Grant" program earlier this month. So it seemed perfect that his Clear Channel radio station was the new local partner for the Justin.TV network. As Maleko blogged himself the day the new channel flickered to life:
"So, today I kicked off the official Studio Cam, through our partnership with Justin.TV, and I got a lifestream planned but for now, its a studio cam with live music feed and chat. I think I like the whole webcam thing, even though I'm not fond of how I look on it... people seem to like looking through the window into my room, and I don't mind them looking."
He also sent word out via his Twitter stream:
Lifestreaming on http://Justin.TV/star1019 –02:26 PM June 22, 2007
But it was also on Twitter where, fewer than three hours later, Maleko announced the end of his part in the shortlived Justin.TV arrangement:
NO LONGER on Justin TV..... Now on Ustream EXCLUSIVELY! –05:09 PM June 22, 2007
Sure enough, Maleko has been a lifecasting fool ever since... just not on Justin.TV. He went for a motorcycle ride, attended the Corona Patio Party at Hooter's at Aloha Tower Marketplace, and this morning went driving around Hawaii running errands, broadcasting it all live via his Ustream channel, "Maleko's Room." He also updated his blog:
"So after yesterday's tremendous response to the new cam broadcast, I decided I'm going to lifestream, on my own. The radio station has a cool setup with Justin.tv but they aren't keen on letting me use it... something about being afraid of my ever powerful ability to get people naked."
Curious, I e-mailed Maleko over the weekend for more of the story. He affirmed that Justin.TV is still going to work with Clear Channel in Hawaii (both Star 101.9 and KSSK). "Clear Channel has special plans for bands and that TV, I don't know what, but they told me 'Special Occasions Only,'" he said. "So I figure, cool, let them do their thing, and let me do my own."
Maleko is already working hard on improving his hardware setup, and building his own audience and partnerships. It may be harder to get viewers without the buzz and marketing behind Justin.TV, but he's clearly too excited about lifecasting to not give it his best shot. "I want to do this so bad," Maleko said. "This is great stuff."
I agree. Good luck, Maleko. I'll be watching.
UPDATE: Want to keep an eye on several Hawaii-based geeks at once, or quickly find a "channel" that's live at any given moment? Bookmark HawaiiLife.TV, which simply collects the embeddable video players from several local lifecasters and puts them on one page.
