• Thursday, April 2, 2020

What is Azuracast?

Azuracast is a free and open-source web radio management suite having a powerful user interface. It supports both Icecast and Shoutcast. Azuracast control panel comes with an SSL feature enabled, a free way to secure your server without paying any charges. If you are a beginner at Azurcast, it will help you gain some idea of how Azurzcast works and the steps are involved in broadcasting a radio.

 

Using its easy installer and intuitive web interface, you can start up a fully working radio station within minutes. 

 

Main Features of Azuracast:

1. Azuracast is an easy installer tool and has a great user interface.

2. It has SSL which provides a secure listening experience for users.

3. Azuracast is a simple 1 click self-hosted web radio through which users can start fully functional radio stations within minutes.

4. Azuracast provides clear and precise statistics

5. Azuracast works for web radio stations of all types and sizes.

6. Using the inbuilt Web DJ tool, Azuracast offers a live broadcasting feature without the use of any additional software.

 

Every aspect of Azuracast can be well managed using its simple web interface.

Let’s check each aspect along with its screenshot.

 

1. Login Screen:

The login screen appears based on the theme chosen.

azuracast-admin-login-page-ucartz

 

2. Main Dashboard:

The main dashboard of the radio page shows a summary of radio activities including song requests, Streamers/DJs, streams, broadcasting service status, etc.

 

Azuracast-Main-Dashboard-ucartz.

 

3. Public player Page:

 

Azuracast-Public-player-Page

 

4. Music Files Page:

Under the music files page, you have options for media management such as upload songs, preview songs and organize music into folders from your browser. Also, you can upload files in bulk via SFTP.

Azuracast-Music-Files-Page-ucartz

 


5. Playlists Page:

Using the playlists page, playlists can be created with a variety of options such as auto DJ scheduling, etc. Music can be added to standard-rotation playlists whether in sequential or shuffled playback order. Also, here you can schedule a playlist to play at a scheduled time, or once per x songs/ minutes/ etc. 

 

Azuracast- Playlists-Page-ucartz

 

 

6. Streamer/DJ Accounts:

 

Streamer Accounts can be enabled or disabled under this page.

Live broadcasting can be enabled or disabled under this and here individual accounts can also be created for each streamer to use. 

 

Azuracast-Streamer-DJ-Accounts-ucartz

 

Live DJ:

Individual DJ/Streamer Accounts can be set up under this. And also can see who is currently streaming from the station's profile page 

Web DJ:

With the inbuilt Web DJ tool, live broadcasting is possible directly from the browser without any additional software.


7. Mount points:


This feature controls how listeners can connect and listen to your radio stations. Here, a high-quality stream can be set up for broadband listeners and phone listeners, the mobile stream can be set up.

Azuracast-Mount-points-ucartz.

 


8. Remote Relay:

Under this, Your radio signal including live DJ can be broadcasted to any server running Icecast or ShoutCast. 


Azuracast-Remote-Relay-ucartz.



9. WebHooks:

Using a webhook, you can connect to external web services like slack, TuneIn, twitter, etc.

 

Azuracast-WebHooks-ucartz.

 

10. Reports:

You can keep track of every aspect of listeners using a statistics overview. Statistics page where you can view the IP addresses and device used of all your listeners here.

Statistics Overview:

 

Azuracast-Statistics-Overview-ucartz..



Listeners:

Reports of total listener hours etc can be generated.

 

Azuracast-Listeners-ucartz



Song Playback Timeline:



Azuracast-Song-Playback-Timeline-ucartz

 

 

Song Listener impact:

Here, you can view the impact of each song on your listener's count.

 

Azuracast-Song-Listener-impact-ucartz.

 


Duplicate Songs:

 

Azuracast-Duplicate-Songs-ucartz



Sound Exchange Report:



 


11. Utilities:


SFTP User:

SFTP users can be added under this.

 

Automated Assignment:

You can enable or disable the automated assignment. Here, you can allow the system automatically to assign songs to playlists based on their performance.

 

Edit Liquid soap Configuration:

Here you can customize different sections of liquid soap configuration

 

Log Viewer:

Here, liquid soap and Icecast logs and error logs can be viewed.

 

Upcoming song queue:

Restart broadcasting options also present under utilities.

 


12. Dashboard:

Listeners and station overview can be seen under my accounts dashboard.

 


13. System administration:

The system administration page of Azuracast helps in managing and modifying Azuracast Installation Settings that include creating and managing stations, roles, and users, modifying system-wide settings and custom branding, and installing licensed software’s, etc.

 

System Settings:

Here, Azuracast instance name, Playback history management, security controls such as the use of HTTPS, etc can be controlled under system settings. 

 

Custom branding:

Under this, theme, Azuracast branding, album art for public pages can be controlled.

 

System Logs:

System logs and logs by the station can be accessed here. 

 

Backups:

AzuraCast web interface has a dedicated Backup page, where you can configure periodic automated backups, run a one-time or manual backup and download or restore existing backup files.

 

System Debugger:

Here, synchronization tasks and station-specific debugging can be managed.

 

 

Users

User Accounts:

From the "Users" administration panel, existing user accounts can be modified, or new ones can be created. The roles of user accounts can be modified here. Super admin roles can also be assigned. If the user has forgotten the password, a password change can also be forced here.

 

Permissions:

Global and per station permissions can be added to roles and after adding this, users to corresponding roles can be added to control the access.

 

Audit Log:

Here, a log for different stations can be viewed.

 

Stations

 Stations:

From the station's administration panel, stations can be managed. Here you can modify existing stations, can remove stations from the server, create new stations, or "clone" an existing station to create a new one with the same settings, etc. To manage stations, the user role must have set “Administer Stations" permission as globally.

 

Custom Fields:

Here custom fields can be added.

 

14. My account:

Here, you can edit your profile, customize themes, enable or disable two-factor authentication, etc.

 

15. My API Keys:

Some of the system functionalities can be accessed by API Keys.