Slashdot Mirror

So, wheres the good free (non-riaa) Indie radio stations? With all the talk of "F*CK" the RIAA, wheres the alternative Garage/Indie/etc radio? I listen to Techno, and the best streams are UK Based. Wheres the alternatives?


I highly reccomend SomaFM. Both free-as-in-beer and commercial-free; they play very chill, ambient technoish music day & night. I can listen to it all day at work and it just fades into the background, blocking out distractions. SomaFM definitely puts me in the coding "zone".

At one point in time, the RIAA forced them off the air via CARP. I get the impression it's just some guy with some bandwidth and some music, and I'm thankful he found the money to resume broadcasting. Although I'm still a broke college kid, I do plan to donate to this internet radio station when I eventually get me one of 'dem lucrative job-type-thingys. I encourage everyone to donate whatever they can.

Peace,
jtcm

Not to nitpick but that is just not true. Cliqhop (one of the stations on SomaFM) has played many large, mainstream artists in the past hour (squarepusher, autechre, mu-ziq, etc.) From what I can tell all of their stations are the same. They may play a larger mix of independent artists but they definitely play non-independent artists quite a bit.

If you want to illustrate the breadth of electronic music, then for the love of god, don't use digitally imported. Check out Soma FM for a wide range of electronic (and some other) styles.

Soma FM for all your techno | ambient | trance needs.
Share and Enjoy

1. ifconfig eth0 down

   you'd be amazed at what getting rid of a global distraction can do :)

2. Ritalin. It's amazing. People give ritalin shit for being overprescribed, but it's remarkable. Just do what everyone in the ivies do (and Exeter): snort it. You'll be more focused than ever before.

what's soma FM?

http://www.somafm.com

enjoy
you're welcome

For example, check out the list available from Shoutcast; also check out SomaFM.

I frequently hear new music from these stations, which are never played on mainstream radio, and most of the CD's I've bought recently can be attributed to internet radio.

The day it was announced, I gave $20 to SomaFM. Hopefully not all of it will go to pay RIAA extortion.

I'm involved with P2P research at my university. I think once people start the see the greater implications of the technology they won't be so quick to label it as a black/grey (this is a knee-jerk reaction from the music industry that may last yet for a few years).

P2P is a solution to massive content distribution; any kind of content. And there are different scales. P2P may show itself in many ways in the near future, whether you're chillin' to SomaFM, backing up your data to/from a redudant multipeer network, or maybe distributing large content from a web site and benefiting from clients' bandwidth for peer to peer redistribution.

And were the bastards that pushed them out ( especially WENZ "The End", which was my favorite modern rock station ever ) for none other than the same Pop 40/Urban Mix that pollutes MTV. Thank God for SomaFM

Somafm Try Groove Salad, Secret Agent or Drone Zone.

on SomaFM. Donate as it's 100% non-profit.

SomaFM has a pretty good over view of what it means to them. The answer is we will see (since the negotiations haven't started yet). I really hope they make it back on the air. I want my SomaFM.

The folks at somafm have some interresting links and comments too.

According to their site, SomaFM will resume broadcoast soon !! yay!
0.70$ per song per thousand listeners seems to be reasonable for small webcasters.

"More info as soon as we know more... we're trying to get the final wording on the bill, but we understand that the provisions (added at the last moment) that take money away from the artists were removed before the vote was approved."

That is a real danger.

It is dangerous not to understand what is happening here on an international scale.

In terms of censorship, social control and the relegation of individual populations to a second-class of citizenship, technology issues like this will have a more direct effect than tariffs or export laws.

What you are allowed read in books and watch on TV will be subject to its profit potential for large corporations. Read that again. Anything else will be Samizdat .

This will be enforced through agreements and laws like DMCA, UCITA, and the proposed SSSCA and CBDTP. Less is known by even informed people about these laws, than say -NAFTA.

Why? Because at a cursory glance, the subject matter is dismissed as being too technical, or "just something about TV."

When second-hand bookshops are being closed - for being unable to meet the minimum payments on 'royalties for redistribution of intellectual property,' everyone will wonder what happened. It started with Internet Audio Broadcasters. You think this is far-fetched, or satirical? Go ask SOMA-FM

Has slashdot even reported on the recent web casting fee's the copyright office and CARP (Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel) is setting up?

From the article.

The official fee's come in at a rate of .07 cents per song which is streamed live online and a lower rate of .02 cents per stream for simulcasted and / or archived broadcasts. There is also an additional fee to keep copies
of the music on the web server of 8.8 percent of the entire royalty fee, which is tacked on top of the total cost of the royalty rates.

Now some of you are wondering, why does this matter? Well for one thing one of my favorite webcasting stations is gone now. Soma
FM had to close shop because of this.

I think this story is much better than internal conflicts at some huge corporation, don't you? Talk about greed, CARP wants 15,000@ month out of somafm. Total BS

--toq

One of the biggest grassroots movement right now is run by Voice of Webcasters, who're running a campaign to save Internet Radio by sending one million faxes to Congress. It would be a shame to see a fledging technology like Internet Radio go to /dev/null. If you truly care about Internet Radio technology, I urge you to send a free fax to Congress right now. The US House of Representatives go on Summer Recess on July 26th, while the Senate goes August 2nd. If we don't do anything now, a LOT of non-commercial and small Internet Radio stations will be gone by September!

Even if you don't listen to Net Radio now, you might in the future. Sending a free fax doesn't cost you anything, apart from two minutes of your time.

So I urge you. Please. Prove this article wrong. Show that the grassroots movement is definitely still there.

I urge you all to save Internet radio by sending a free fax to Congress. There's not much time left.

Please, I urge you all to send a fax to Congress regarding this matter. It's simple and straightforward, and it's free.

SomaFM has a very convenient portal here.

http://somafm.com/fax/

Electronic music is basically not played on the regular radio. However, there are lots of Internet radio stations that play electronic music in its various forms.

SOMAFM used to specialize in this, but it was killed by the DMCA. DrumLogic.net specializes in Drum and Bass. ECKOradio has some good downloads.

And don't forget the energy overseas. For example, Tornado Productions in the UK does regular live webcasts of electronic music DJ's.

Hunt around on the Internet, find some music you like, and listen to it. I do not know any better advice than that!

There has been much discussion on the various webcaster lists about going "DMCA-free" - technically, to forgo the DMCA statuatory license. It's coming, thanks to the idiocy of the situation.

The SaveInternetRadio group and the International Webcasters Association have a lot more information about the situation. Good stations such as SOMA-FM have been forced from the air, and more are likely to fold.

However, there is a lot of good music out there that can be freely streamed. Some Internet stations, such as OntheI.com channel 2, have always played freely availabled music, as has MP3.com. It is important to remember that these stations are free of the CARP and DMCA restrictions and payments, much like open-source software is free of licensing restrictions.

I look for a new ecosystem to arise, akin to the open source movement, with music licensed freely to all, with returns coming from the sale of artifacts (DVD's, t-shirts, etc.), and concert tickets.

For starters, you are unfortunatly a little late when it comes to the internet radio stations that so often have good electronic music. The RIAA is in the middle of killing the free internet radio stations. Some of my favorite internet streams used to be over at SomaFM where among other music I was introduced to music from Tranquility Bass, Future Sounds of London, Aphex Twins and Orbital. I would prolly not have CD's by all these bands if it wasn't for da internet stream.
Not all streams have disappeared, Digitally Imported Radio is one of the finest that is still there. Offering Trance, hard-trance, Eurodance and hard-house. For more streams check out shoutcast a collection of online music streams.

To be introduced to Electronic music you should try to find which genres within electronic you like best. Some genres are (from mellow to really fast):
- Ambient
- Trance
- Down Tempo
- Trip Hop
- Acid Jazz
- Eurodance
- House
- Garage
Several of these genres are not per-se electronic but will contain lots of modern sound influences.

For the real electronic junkies there is also what is known as scene music. This will not appeal to most people out there, but please try it and check out the rest of the scene.

Maybe you'd want listening to online mp3 broadcasts... Almost all online radio stations have forums to discuss what's on air and such; pick up a station you like and you'll see what's playing, and what other listeners like. I suggest:

DigitallyImported (probably the most popular; trance, hard trance, house)
Massinova (eurodance / trance site in which users decide what will play next, with a moderation system for the tracks...)
SomaFM (oops, killed by CARP -- had good Drum'n'Bass)
Tag's Trance Trip (trance -- wait, off the air due to CARP)
XTC Radio (trance and prog house)
Philosomatika (goa and psytrance)
Bassdrive (drum'n'bass)
Xanu (Chillout and lounge)

for those of you interested in bands that promote the distribution of their live material try FurthurNet It's very similar to Limewire in look/feel but only allows the trading of music by artists that allow the taping of their shows (and videotaping as well).

Thanks for the suggestion. I've mostly gone back to listening to my own CD collection, but for a long time I was listening one of the various SomaFM streams, sitting back, coding, and occasionally writing down the name of a new group or album that I had never heard. I have made dozens of CD purchases based on that list. That source is gone now, and the list (along with CD purchasing for the last few months) is frozen with its departure.

Another funny anecdote: While driving (the only time I ever consider subjecting myself to broadcast radio) recently, I actually heard a song I liked. Missed the name of the artist, but I paid close attention to the lyrics to see if I could pick out keywords. Went home, logged in to the nearest P2P network and had that exact song in less than 30 minutes.

If someone would develop a system with that kind of response time, that would allow me to download what I want by the song, I'd pay for that. The RIAA has had at least half a decade to develop such a system, yet instead they have tried to legislate the technology back into Pandora's Box.

This disgusts me to no end, and I think I'm now fed up enough where this will now become a personal crusade for me. These leeches do the public, and the arts no good. They've refused to evolve, so now it's time for their extinction.

for those of you interested in bands that promote the distribution of their live material try FurthurNet It's very similar to Limewire in look/feel but only allows the trading of music by artists that allow the taping of their shows (and videotaping as well).

Thanks for the suggestion. I've mostly gone back to listening to my own CD collection, but for a long time I was listening one of the various SomaFM streams, sitting back, coding, and occasionally writing down the name of a new group or album that I had never heard. I have made dozens of CD purchases based on that list. That source is gone now, and the list (along with CD purchasing for the last few months) is frozen with its departure.

Another funny anecdote: While driving (the only time I ever consider subjecting myself to broadcast radio) recently, I actually heard a song I liked. Missed the name of the artist, but I paid close attention to the lyrics to see if I could pick out keywords. Went home, logged in to the nearest P2P network and had that exact song in less than 30 minutes.

If someone would develop a system with that kind of response time, that would allow me to download what I want by the song, I'd pay for that. The RIAA has had at least half a decade to develop such a system, yet instead they have tried to legislate the technology back into Pandora's Box.

This disgusts me to no end, and I think I'm now fed up enough where this will now become a personal crusade for me. These leeches do the public, and the arts no good. They've refused to evolve, so now it's time for their extinction.

My point is that it's funny that they should standardize on the same rate as broadcasters when the barrier to entries for webcasting is lower than it is for radio. What's this? If you want to play music for people you have to destroy it by inserting inane yakking, and loud commercials into the flow, just so sponsors get their oh-so-importaint "air time"?

("What? No commercials? That's un-American!" [well, at least maybe non-capitalistic, but I digress]).

Ever since the shutdown, I've gone back to listening to my own CD collection, but for a long time I was listening one of the various SomaFM streams, sitting back, coding, and occasionally writing down the name of a new group or album that I had never heard. I have made dozens of CD purchases based on that list. That source is gone now, and the list (along with CD purchasing for a few months, it looks like) frozen with its departure.

Another funny anecdote: While driving (the only time I ever consider subjecting myself to broadcast radio) recently, I actually heard a song I liked. Missed the name of the artist, but I paid close attention to the lyrics to see if I could pick out keywords. Went home, logged in to the nearest P2P network and had that exact song in less than 30 minutes.

If someone would develop a system with that kind of response time, that would allow me to download what I want by the song, I'd pay for that. The RIAA has had at least half a decade to develop such a system, yet instead they have tried to legislate the technology back into Pandora's Box.

This disgusts me to no end, and I think I'm now fed up enough where this will now become a Personal Crusade for me. These leeches do the public, and the arts no good. They've refused to evolve, so now it's time for their extinction.

So...

...who wants to build an island 13 miles off the Montery penninsula with an OC-192 hooked up to it? We could be Sealand Redux.

Their website reads: "SomaFM: killed by the RIAA. June 20, 2002. With CARP royalties of $500 a DAY, SomaFM cannot continue broadcasting."

Bye-bye Groove Salad, it's been nice knowing you!

Check out http://www.eslmusic.com. A friend got me into Theivery Co. and more after I started listening to the streams on SomaFM. You can buy any of the CDs on their label for $12US + shipping. Not bad, and you don't feel so bad paying for it =P. Especially when you can listen to it commercial free on SomaFM.

Contact your representative in Washington!

The SomaFM page has the info, as well as Save Internet Radio.

It's _really_ easy to do and takes about 60 seconds. Just say something like this:

"Hello, this is (your_name) from (your_city, state) ... can I speak to the aide responsible for Internet issues?" Then they'll transfer you.

When the aide picks up, just say: "I'm calling to voice my opposition to the CARP ruling that will negatively affect Internet radio stations. I think it is unfair, and I hate to think that I will lose my favorite internet radio stations soon. Internet radio is one of the best ways I can discover new music to purchase, because the FM broadcast stations in my area don't provide me with any diversity. Please help me out, and put a stop to the CARP ruling so that Internet radio will survive."

Then they'll say something like "Thanks for calling, I'll pass this on to Representative So-and-so."

If you don't do anything to help, don't come here and bitch when most of the good internet radio stations are gone. I for one, appreciate new music and diversity.

Now, go call!

Ben

I sent my $10 via paypal to SomaFM.

If you are a regular listener like me, you should do the same thing.

To save a little bit of their bandwidth i'm listening to betalounge right now :) more tasty live electronic goodness.

P.S.

Yes, I've now faxed my congress-folks about this stuff. You too can do it easily with a few keyboard strokes and a mouse click.

Just a thought...

Check theirsite for what it's actually about.

I'm streaming the Drone Zone right now. This is some serioulsy good Ambient stuff. I'm a BIG fan of Brian Eno (and other folks along those same lines). I wish I knew about this earlier. It's a shame they're going off the air soon. :-(

This is quite good, if you like this sort of stuff.

btw, a few weeks ago I asked somaFM (via email) if they had any plans to offer higher bitrates (up to 256VBR) - since I'd be interested in paying for that kind of quality - and here's the response I got back:

It's not feasible to do 256k feeds. The bandwidth costs alone would
amount to about $60 per user per month. If anything, we'll be
reducing the bandwidth and using OGG format streams...

I don't know if who I was talking to was authoritative or not... but anyway, here's to wish'n that bandwidth was cheaper and that content distribution was smarter.
--

It's May 1. And, SomaFM is still broadcasting.

I don't know if they're supporting the Day of Silence, but every 30 minutes, a short advertisement comes on the air. It always says something to effect of "The RIAA is trying to exercise its control over internet radio. Stop them before you can't hear your favourite artists, again." And, the ad is right. Forcing fees on already underfunded radio stations is terrible for the future of music.

Some of the lesser-known ambient music artists, for example, *ONLY* have their music played on SomaFM. What happens when SomaFM can't afford to keep their station anymore? I call it a tragedy. Call it whatever you want. Either way, it sucks. For us and for them.

Groove Salad.

It's May 1. And, SomaFM is still broadcasting.

I don't know if they're supporting the Day of Silence, but every 30 minutes, a short advertisement comes on the air. It always says something to effect of "The RIAA is trying to exercise its control over internet radio. Stop them before you can't hear your favourite artists, again." And, the ad is right. Forcing fees on already underfunded radio stations is terrible for the future of music.

Some of the lesser-known ambient music artists, for example, *ONLY* have their music played on SomaFM. What happens when SomaFM can't afford to keep their station anymore? I call it a tragedy. Call it whatever you want. Either way, it sucks. For us and for them.

Groove Salad.

Basically, it's good to see mainstream coverage for this story.

Net Radio Fears Heard in Congress
Yahoo writeup showing that we just might make a difference.

USAToday Coverage!!! Suave!!!

Most importantly, A sample letter to your congressman.

Of course, all courtesy of SOMAFM, my favorite internet radio group.

My fave is Groove Salad (128k pls feed)

Basically, it's good to see mainstream coverage for this story.

Net Radio Fears Heard in Congress
Yahoo writeup showing that we just might make a difference.

USAToday Coverage!!! Suave!!!

Most importantly, A sample letter to your congressman.

Of course, all courtesy of SOMAFM, my favorite internet radio group.

My fave is Groove Salad (128k pls feed)

Basically, it's good to see mainstream coverage for this story.

Net Radio Fears Heard in Congress
Yahoo writeup showing that we just might make a difference.

USAToday Coverage!!! Suave!!!

Most importantly, A sample letter to your congressman.

Of course, all courtesy of SOMAFM, my favorite internet radio group.

My fave is Groove Salad (128k pls feed)

As other people have mentioned, these numbers are extremely misleading and doesn't even factor in the "follow-thru" effect. That is, once a person gets a chance to download a piece of music, and find that they like it, they then go thru and "follow-up" on that artist, more often than not buying the original media for the song they had downloaded earlier, and other products by that artist they may have missed before.

This is what I do when I download music. Recently, however, the process has been:

• Listen to SomaFM
• copy down names artists from their play lists
• search for music over the internet
• If I like what I hear, I buy it. If not, it usually ends up in the bit bucket.

Does this behavior ever occur to the RIAA? Nope. "You download MP3s, you must be a pirate".

Anyone who has ever seem my CD collection would know that this couldn't be further from the truth. If anything, I'm an ardent music fan.

It amazes me that the RIAA can hem and haw about representing artists, yet when it comes to underground artists like the ones normally relegated to dance clubs and underground internet radio stations like Soma...the RIAA is virtually invisible in such positive representation. Do they actually do anything for a DJ Krust, a Dom & Roland, or a Grooverider? Not that I can see, and the clubs do well enough in this aspect. Actually, they have involved themselves in one aspect of Internet Radio: the introduction of the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP) to address the issue of royalty paments. If these recommendations pass, it would basically signal the end of Internet Radio as we know it.

So in yet another instance, the RIAA is actually hurting those it claims it represents. I'm really hoping the government will shine a big bright spotlight on the Music Industry, as the more I hear about it, the less I like.

Tell me, why havent the RIAA been able to get together with some ambitious geeks and come up with a create-your-own-mix-CD type service? Don't think they could put up with the competition of people burning their own CDs for free, so instead of offering a better service, they sic the government on their own customers instead of trying to work with them.

Real smart, and how so very, very typical of Corporate America, isn't it?

When I need to get into the zone, I need a semi-dark room, my laptop,... and streaming Internet radio! That is a must. And depending on what my mood is at that time, I can change radio stations when I wish. I've got a whole list of stations for different moods.. from groove and indie rock, to smooth jazz, to alternative. I can't stand a repetitive MP3 playlist.. I always need "new music", and Internet radio fits that bill just fine. Of course, that assumes you're bandwidth-endowed. :-)

And yes I agree with some of you that web browsers are the prime distraction! Ok gotta get back to work... :-)

Hmm, that's very insightful.

I haven't bought a new CD for several years. I have however purchased many, many used CDs. I also do NOT download music off the net. I do listen to streaming radio off the net, like SomaFM (which is about to die, and thousands of other internet radio stations, due to the bastard RIAA). I also do not buy DVDs. Actually, I don't own a TV, and the only radio I listen to is Public Radio (yeah, NPR!).

My point being, that according to point 1, I am that strange person they are marginalizing, under point 4, I refused to exploited.

awwwwww yes ... Fila Brazillla has gotten quite a few bucks from me both b/c of Drone Zone, and MonkeyRadio ... good stuff.

To confirm that music is purchased due to hearing it over Internet radio...

Last month, I heard something that sounded really good on the Drone Zone, looked up and saw the artist was called Fila Brazillia, downloaded a couple of mp3s via peer-to-peer sharing services, decided I really liked them, and ordered 2 CDs. I'll be ordering the rest of their catalogue very soon.

- You'd better stop coffee and start drinking some tea. Aim for quality tea , it's not so expensive, but really tastes better. try with honey or sugar

- Try getting a better chair or armchair .

- Listen to some quiet music (I recommend SomaFM's Drone Zone ).

It worked for me...well I still don't write my best code, but I think it's because I'm too lazy :)

Read the details here from Telos, who makes the hardware encoders for them.

I was kind of depressed to hear that they're using Omnia audio processors instead of Orban's 6200 processors, I can tell you the Orban stuff generally sounds a lot better.

--

Check ot SomaFM.com, six channels of high bandwidth, listener supported commercial free Mp3 internet radio.