SomaFM is a multi-channel Internet radio station supported with donations without advertisements. The station takes its name from Soma, the fictional drug from Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel Brave New World and the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco, known colloquially as SoMa.
History SomaFM originally started broadcasting out of founder Rusty Hodge's basement garage in the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, as a micropower 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.
In May 2002, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel 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 channel could have been forced to pay over US$1,000 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.
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. Subsequently, Congress passed the Small Webcaster Settlement Act of 2002 (SWSA) on November 15, 2002, which enabled small webcasters to negotiate a lower rate with SoundExchange. SomaFM resumed broadcasting in late November 2002 under this new royalty structure.
In 2005, SomaFM partnered with Orban to begin streaming to 3GPP-compatible mobile devices, becoming one of the first internet broadcasters to support mobile streaming on 3G/EDGE networks. In June 2007, SomaFM participated in the "Internet Radio Day of Silence" in protest of the Copyright Royalty Board's decision at the time to raise royalty fees for internet radio stations.
In January 2013, SomaFM partnered with Aha by Harman International to make its content available via Aha apps in supported automobile dashboards. In 2014, SomaFM partnered with Qualcomm to include Allplay (part of the AllJoyn open source software framework) for wireless speakers in their mobile apps. Throughout its history, SomaFM, as well as its playlist curators, have been recognized with various awards and other honors.
List of channels Channel Genre/theme Year added Drone Zone Drone 2000 Groove Salad Downtempo/chillout Secret Agent Lounge/jazz with a 1960s spy theme Indie Pop Rocks! Indie pop/indie rock 2002 cliqhop idm Intelligent dance music Beat Blender House/downtempo/chillout Boot Liquor Americana 2003 Classic trance/progressive trance. Formerly known as Tag's Trip. 2004 Xmas in Frisko Eclectic Christmas-themed music 2005 Space Station Soma Ambient space music 2006 Illinois Street Lounge Lounge music Doomed Industrial/dark ambient Sonic Universe Avant-garde jazz 2008 Lush Female-driven vocal downtempo Digitalis Self-produced indie rock and electronic music Suburbs of Goa Desi/Arabic-influenced worldbeat Underground 80s Early 80s British synthpop and new wave. Formerly known as Nu Musik. Christmas Lounge Christmas-themed lounge music Mission Control Ambient music mixed with the sounds of NASA's mission broadcasts and live shuttle coverage 2009 PopTron Electropop/dance-rock Covers Cover songs Black Rock FM The broadcast for 102.3FM in Black Rock City for the Burning Man Festival 2010 South by Soma Music by artists from the SXSW Festival 2012 SF 10–33 Ambient music mixed with the sounds of San Francisco public safety radio traffic Dub Step Beyond Dubstep and other bass-driven electronic music Folk Forward Indie folk, alternate folk Christmas Rocks! Christmas themed indie/alternative rock DEF CON Radio Music from DEF CON's chill room, provided by SomaFM 2013 Iceland Airwaves Music by artists from the Iceland Airwaves festival Deep Space One Deep ambient electronic, experimental, and space music Seven Inch Soul Classic soul music 2014 Left Coast 70s Mellow album-oriented rock from the 1970s 2015 Fluid Instrumental hip hop/future soul/liquid trap ThistleRadio Celtic music, was previously broadcast as The Thistle & Shamrock on NPR Metal Detector Heavy metal Jolly Ol' Soul Christmas-themed soul music SomaFM Live Live music 2015 Groove Salad Classic Early 2000s downtempo/chillout 2019 Department Store Christmas Christmas-themed beautiful music Heavyweight Reggae Reggae, dub, ska, and rocksteady 2020 Vaporwaves Vaporwave n5MD Radio Music from the music label n5MD Synphaera Modern electronic ambient and space music 2021 The In-Sound 1960s & 1970s Euro-Pop 2023 Tiki Time Exotica Bossa Beyond Bossa Nova & Samba Chillits Recordings of musical performances from Chillits 2024
Notes
References
External links