SomaFM

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SomaFM is a listener-supported non-commercial Internet-only streaming music station, broadcast out of Rusty Hodge's garage in the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, California. SomaFM is one of the largest Internet-only radios, with 1 million listener-hours per month. SomaFM plays mainly alternative electronic genres, including glitch, ambient, chill out, and downtempo.

[edit] History

SomaFM began as a pirate 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 of 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 by 2002.

[edit] Conflict with the RIAA

In May 2002, the DMCA CARP ruling came into effect, which enabled RIAA representatives to subject online broadcasters to royalty fees, designed – in the opinion of many online broadcasters – to drive those broadcasters out of business. SomaFM was asked to pay 14/100 of a cent for each recording broadcast retroactively through October 1998 which could have potentially shut down the station. Hodge initially estimated that the station could have been forced to pay fees to the RIAA of over $1,000 USD per day to continue operations. In June 2002, SomaFM was forced to stop streaming due to a potential bill of $15,000 USD per month to continue broadcasting.

Hodge organized a letter-writing campaign, and finally testified before the U.S. Congress in 2002. As a consequence of this grass-roots action, Congress passed the Small Broadcasters Amendment Act, which enabled SomaFM to negotiate a more reasonable rate with the RIAA. SomaFM eventually negotiated a royalty rate of 11.8%, which enabled them to go back on the air in December 2002 for $2000-$5000 USD per year.

On June 26, 2007, SomaFM participated in the "Internet Radio Day of Silence" in protest of the Copyright Royalty Board's recent decision to raise royalty fees for internet radio stations (which go back retroactively to January 1st, 2006), which were planned to go into effect on July 15th. On July 13 some services were allowed to continue paying at the older rates while good-faith negotiations were continuing,[1] pending a different decision by the Copyright Royalty Board or by congress on the Internet Radio Equality Act.

[edit] Programming

As of June 2008, SomaFM's channel lineup consists of:

Channel name	Genre	Catch-phrase	Comment	Audio formats
Drone Zone	Dronology	"Served best chilled, safe with most medications. Atmospheric textures with minimal beats."	SomaFM's first channel.	MP3, aacPlus, 3GPP, WMA
Groove Salad	Chillout, Ambient	"A nicely chilled plate of ambient beats and grooves."	SomaFM's second station, and its most popular streaming offering.	MP3, aacPlus, 3GPP, WMA
Secret Agent	Downtempo, Acid jazz	"The soundtrack for your stylish, mysterious, dangerous life. For Spies and PIs too!"	Downtempo and jazz with James Bond audio clips to set the mood.	MP3, aacPlus, 3GPP, WMA
indie pop rocks!	Indie pop	"New and your favorite classic indie pop tracks."		MP3, aacPlus, 3GPP, WMA
cliqhop idm	Glitch, IDM	"Blips'n'beeps backed mostly w/beats. Intelligent dance music."		MP3, WMA
Beat Blender	Deep house, Downtempo	"A late night blend of deep house and downtempo chill."		MP3, WMA
Xmas in Frisko	Holiday music	"Our annual eclectic, irreverent holiday broadcast. May not be suitable for all ages!"	Offered only during the Christmas season	MP3, WMA
Christmas Lounge	Holiday music	"Chilled holiday grooves and classic winter lounge tracks. (Kid and Parent safe!)"	Offered only during the Christmas season	MP3, WMA
Tag's Trance Trip	Progressive house, Trance	"Progressive house / trance. Tip top tunes."	Programmed by Nullsoft developer Tag Loomis. Two independent channels.	MP3, aacPlus
Doomed	Industrial, Goth	"Dark industrial-inspired music for tortured souls."		MP3
Illinois Street Lounge	Exotica, Nu jazz	"Classic bachelor pad, playful exotica and vintage music of tomorrow."	A heavy emphasis on lounge music.	MP3, aacPlus, 3GPP, WMA
Space Station Soma	Electronica, Ambient, Space music	"Tune in, turn on, space out. Spaced-out ambient and mid-tempo electronica."		MP3, aacPlus, 3GPP, WMA
Boot Liquor	Americana, Country	"Americana roots music for Cowhands, Cowpokes and Cowtippers"		MP3
Digitalis	Electronica, Post-Rock	"Digitally affected analog rock with a DIY mentality."		MP3, WMA
Sonic Universe	Nu Jazz, Avant-garde jazz	"Transcending the world of jazz with experimental takes on tradition."		MP3, WMA
Lush	Dream Pop	"Sensuous and mellow vocals, mostly female, with an electronic influence."		MP3, WMA
Suburbs of Goa	World music	"Desi-influenced Asian world beats. "	Not listed in the main channel lineup.	MP3
Nu Musik	Synthpop, New Wave	"Early 80s Synthop and a bit of New Wave."	Not listed in the main channel lineup.	MP3
Into the In Sound	Easy listening	"Cool Euro-Sixties tunes for groovy cats."	Not listed in the main channel lineup.	MP3
Watergate	70s pop, Classic rock	"Where were you in 72? The best of the early 70s."	Not listed in the main channel lineup.	MP3
Cover Me	Cover songs	"All covers, all the time."	Not listed in the main channel lineup.	MP3