Internet Radio Stations ---------First, our computers took over our fingers with a plethora of chat options to entertain us. Now, with the availability of MP3's, the internet is becoming our source for music as well. That means internet radio stations are taking over and unsigned/independent artists must not ignore this important vehicle. It used to be you made a demo and while A&R reps at major record companies were your main focus, you still needed to submit your demo to radio stations across the country to request airplay. While this is still a vital part of your demo submission package, there is now an added dimension. You MUST get your songs in MP3 format and get your music heard on the internet where you can reach the largest audience of all. Your website (and you should have one!) is vital but there are other outlets that can help as well. Internet radio stations are becoming a bigger chunk of the MP3 pie, in addition to sites like MP3.com and amp.com who chart independent music on the internet. More and more radio stations are launching on the internet to keep up with the competition. The best part about it is you can submit your music to most stations from the comfort of your own home and save a lot of money on postage!
If you're not familiar with internet radio, it's simply websites that stream audio over the Internet. If you would like a more in-depth definition, here is a great site that explains every detail and lists several stations: About.com. Over 20% of internet users listen to internet radio stations every week and websites are a lot better at tracking audience numbers than the regular radio ratings tracking system, Arbitron. Arbitron also does webcast measuring, publishing the first ever Webcast ratings last December, but only a small fraction of webcasters are included. Arbitron measures total listeners and the time spent tuning specific channels, but internet radio websites have the added "visual" medium, making it possible to poll listeners as to their age, sex, household income, etc. Gathering this very specific information can be exactly what you need. Imagine an 80's cover band that's been trying to appeal to 30-somethings discovering that the majority of their listeners are people who aren't even old enough to remember the 80's, it could change their entire focus and marketing strategy.
The largest internet radio networks are the Magnitude Network, RealBroadcast Network, Audioscape, and BroadcastAmerica.com. All four ranked in the top 25% for total listeners. OnRadio and NetRadio are their way up, as are thousands of others, check out MIT's list, they link to over 9,000 stations: http://wmbr.mit.edu/stations/list.html or http://www.internetradiolist.com/. Even search engines are getting into the game, Lycos.com and Yahoo.com both have radio networks. You'll also find a lot of "Radio Free" networks like RadioFreeOntario and RadioFreeRadio.com. According to Arbitron, the top ranked internet radio station is Virgin Radio (International) which drew 173,200 listeners in January, that's more than most major metropolitan on-air stations. KPLA scored the top spot for the average time spent tuning at 6 hours, 30 minutes. Web-only stations are reporting as many as 500,000 unique listeners per month.
The submission policies for internet radio stations differ. Many are sticking to the old book, accepting CD submissions and press kits via snail mail while others are working completely online. For online submissions, you need to put your songs in MP3 format and attach them to e-mail. Gary Hustwit's book, Getting Radio Airplay is terrific for information about contacting on-air stations