SomaFM
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| SomaFM | |
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| Broadcast area | Internet |
|---|---|
| First air date | 1999 |
| Format | electronic music, jazz, indie pop, others |
| Language | English |
| Owner | Rusty Hodge |
| Website | Somafm.com |
SomaFM is a listener-supported, commercial-free Internet-only streaming music station. SomaFM started broadcasting out of founder Rusty Hodge's basement garage in the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, California. SomaFM reported over 6 million listener-hours in December 2008.[1] SomaFM broadcasts electronic music, indie rock and lounge music, among other genres.
SomaFM began as a micro-power radio station broadcast at the Burning Man festival in 1999. The response to the project was sufficiently positive that Rusty Hodge launched it as a full-time internet radio station in February 2000. Taking its name from the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco and Soma, "perfect pleasure drug" from Brave New World, and marketed entirely by word of mouth, SomaFM's twelve channels reached a peak listenership of 10,000 concurrent listeners by 2002.
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[edit] Programming
SomaFM initially offered nine channels of music, which has now grown to eighteen. Most channels play genres that are rarely heard on commercial radio or are "not being done right" according to Hodge. [2] Thus it plays a certain role in creating genres or keeping them alive. The following table shows how the programming evolved over time. Launch dates are approximate.
[edit] As of January 2002
* Groove Salad: ambient electronic with beats * Secret Agent: lounge/jazz with James Bond theme * Drone Zone: ambient electronic without beats * Cliqhop: blips and beats (Intelligent Dance Music)
[edit] Added by May 2002
* Indie Pop Rocks: Indie Pop/Indie Rock * Beat Blender: house/downtempo
[edit] Added by June 2009
* Lush: female vocalists * Digitalis: rock * Space Station Soma: ambient * Sonic Universe: avant-garde jazz * Illinois Street Lounge: lounge * Boot Liquor: Americana * Tag's Trip: trance * Doomed: scary Halloween music
[edit] Added by August 2009
* Mission Control: NASA mission broadcasts and live shuttle coverage mixed with ambient music * PopTron!: Electropop and indie dance rock with sparkle and pop * Covers: Cover songs * Suburbs of Goa: Desi-influenced Asian world beats and beyond
[edit] No longer broadcasting
* Squidradio Downtempo (1/2002-6/2002) * Squidradio drum'n'bass (1/2002-6/2002) * Soma House Party (1/2002-6/2002) * We are Electro (5/2002-6/2002) * Jazz Masterz (5/2002-6/2002)
The most popular channel is Groove Salad with well over 2500 simultaneous listeners in 2009. Secret Agent, Drone Zone, and Indie Pop Rocks come in second with over 500 listeners. The others are more or less niche channels. There are also seasonal channels such as the Christmas music channel.
[edit] Conflict with SoundExchange
In May 2002, the DMCA CARP rate ruling came into effect, requiring internet broadcasters to pay a per song per listener royalty to SoundExchange for the performance of the sound recording, retroactively through October 1998. Hodge estimated that the station could have been forced to pay over $1,000 USD per day to continue operations. The royalty was later reduced by half, but that rate still would require payments by SomaFM that exceeded their revenues.[citation needed]
In June 2002, SomaFM ceased broadcasting. Hodge was one of several webcasters who testified before the U.S. Congress in 2002 in the hopes of reducing the royalty rate.[3]
Subsequently, Congress passed the Small Webcaster Settlement Act of 2002 (SWSA) on November 15, 2002[4], which enabled small webcasters to negotiate a lower rate with SoundExchange.[5] SomaFM resumed broadcasting in late November 2002 under this new royalty structure.
On June 26, 2007, SomaFM participated in the "Internet Radio Day of Silence" [6] in protest of the Copyright Royalty Board's recent decision to raise royalty fees for internet radio stations.
As of December 2008, SomaFM has not yet settled with SoundExchange.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ http://somafm.com/blogs/rusty/2008/12/holiday-channel-traffic.html
- ^ http://somafm.com/about/
- ^ http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=258&wit_id=542
- ^ http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200211/111502.html
- ^ http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/2002/67fr78510.html
- ^ http://www.savenetradio.org/press_room/press_releases/070625-snr_dos.pdf
- ^ http://somafm.com/blogs/rusty/2008/12/soundexchange-royalty-update.html
- Coomey, Chris (June 30, 2004). "Move over, pirate radio — from a Bernal Heights garage, Internet station SomaFM plays tunes for the whole wide world, and it’s all perfectly legal". San Francisco Chronicle. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/06/30/DDGKO7DJ651.DTL. Retrieved 2006-03-16.
- Mieszkowski, Katharine (June 21, 2002). "Web radio's last stand". Technology and Business (Salon.com). http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/03/26/web_radio/. Retrieved 2006-03-16.
- "RIAA kills US-based Internet radio". Kuro5hin. June 21, 2002. http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/6/21/73329/8778. Retrieved 2006-03-16.
