Before you start
Three decisions up front prevent 90% of the problems:
- A cut-over date with margin. Pick a quiet week with no events or special broadcasts, and assume you pay the old service one more month.
- Your own domain for the stream. If you don't have one yet, now is the time to create something like
stream.yourstation.compointing to the provider: the next move will be changing one record. - Who does what. The new provider should set up the encoder, upload the library and publish the app; the station does the inventory and the directories. Put it in writing.
The 7 steps
- 1
Inventory everything that points to your current stream
Before touching anything, list every place the old stream URL lives: the website player (and any old website still online), apps (yours and third-party), directories (TuneIn, Radio Garden, Online Radio Box, myTuner and similar), smart speakers, links in social bios, widgets on partner sites, and the receivers of affiliate stations if you feed them from the stream. Whatever isn't on this list is what later "stopped working" with nobody knowing why.
- 2
Sign up for the new service with an overlap
Activate the new provider while the old one keeps running. One or two weeks of overlap is enough; paying double for that month is the cheapest insurance in the whole move. Ask the new provider for the final URLs (Icecast, HLS, player) and the encoder credentials.
- 3
Send to both servers at once
Set the encoder to send the signal to the old and the new server in parallel (most encoders allow two destinations; if not, run a second encoder on the same PC). From now on both URLs sound the same and you can test the new one calmly: quality, now-playing metadata, stability over a few days.
- 4
Load AutoDJ and the schedule
Upload the music library, ads and jingles to the new AutoDJ and schedule the hours the station runs without the studio. Test that AutoDJ takes over by itself when the encoder drops. This is the step that takes longest (uploading GB of music) and the one most often postponed.
- 5
Change the website player and the apps
Replace the website player code with the new provider's. Apps are the delicate part: if the app belongs to the old provider, it goes away and a new one must be published (the new provider does it, subject to store review: days on Google Play, a little longer on the App Store). If the app is yours and reads the URL from a remote setting, change it there; if the URL is hard-coded, publish an update and assume some users take weeks to update. That is why the old stream should stay up until most have moved.
- 6
Update the directories
TuneIn, Radio Garden, Online Radio Box and the rest have forms or contacts to change the stream URL; some take days to apply it. Doing it while both URLs work prevents the station from showing as "off air" in the directory meanwhile. Same for smart speakers (if they use TuneIn, fixing TuneIn fixes them).
- 7
Verify and cut the old one
Watch both panels' statistics for a few days: when the old stream's listeners drop to nearly zero (only old players or un-updated apps remain), cancel it. If significant listeners stay on the old one, something from step 1 was not changed.
Checklist
- Old stream URLs listed: website, apps, directories, smart speakers, affiliates, social links
- New provider active, with URLs and credentials in hand
- Encoder sending to both servers; quality and metadata checked
- New AutoDJ loaded and tested; hours scheduled
- Website player changed (and on any old website still online)
- App: new one published or configuration updated; plan for users who don't update
- Directories updated: TuneIn, Radio Garden, Online Radio Box, others
- Old stream listeners at zero or close; old service cancelled
- Old AutoDJ library downloaded before cancelling
Common mistakes
| Mistake | What happens |
|---|---|
| Cancelling the old service the day you sign up for the new one | The number one cause of stations "off air" for a week: apps and directories still point to a server that no longer exists. |
| Forgetting affiliate stations | If other stations rebroadcast from your stream, tell them and give them the new URL in advance. |
| Not downloading the old AutoDJ library | When the service is cancelled, the uploaded music goes with it. Download it first, or keep your local copy up to date. |
| Changing bitrate without telling anyone | If the new stream is 128 kbps and the old one was 64, listeners on limited data may notice; it is an improvement, but worth announcing. |
| Publishing the new app with no overlap | Users take time to update. If the old app goes silent overnight, you lose listeners who will not look for the new one. |
How long it takes
With the new provider helping: sign-up and dual-destination encoder on the same day; AutoDJ, one to three days depending on the GB to upload; the website player, minutes; a new app, one to two weeks between branding and store review; directories, hours to days depending on each one. Cutting the old service when the statistics say so: typically after two weeks.
Questions about switching
How long should both services overlap?
One to four weeks, depending on how much the station relies on apps and directories. If almost all listening is on your own website, one week is enough. With a popular app of your own, give it a month so most users update.
Can I keep the same stream URL when I change providers?
If the URL you hand out is on your own domain (for example stream.yourstation.com) and points to the provider, yes: change that record and you are done. If it is the provider's domain or IP, no; that is why it pays to move to a URL on your own domain during the switch, so the next one is trivial.
Can the new provider do the migration?
Serious providers help: they set up the encoder, upload the library, publish the app and help with directories. INOVANEX does it as part of onboarding; ask for it before signing and get it in writing.
What happens to my historical statistics?
They go away with the old panel unless you export them. Before cancelling, download the monthly reports you want to keep (listeners per day, countries, devices): they are the history that backs your ad sales.