One Radio Station to Go

If the technical and legal scenes all sound like too much, don't worry. There are various outfits offering packaged "solutions". As with other types of online endeavors (e-commerce, advertising, etc.) you can basically do as much or as little of the heavy lifting yourself as you wish.

OnAir Streaming Networks, Inc. (Formerly www.com) calls itself an MSP - a Music Service Provider. They offer several different ways to add music to your Web site - whether you want "full turn-key service, a completely custom solution, or just a handful of components". Their ever-growing catalog includes "hundreds of thousands" of songs in many different genres, and they handle all the performing rights payments. This offers a comparatively easy way to create a radio station that combines your own original programming with recordings of popular songs. As you can imagine, the more control you want over the revenue possibilities (advertising), the more you'll pay for the service.

While OnAir is aimed at people who want to start an Internet radio station from scratch, Radio Data Group, Inc. sells software that helps existing radio stations get set up online. Their site makes a good read for anyone who is going this route.

Perhaps the best-known Webcasting site is Yahoo's Broadcast.com. They offer packaged solutions to would-be Webcasters, and like other providers they can handle as much or as little of the process as you wish. A browse through their vendor site gives a good picture of the many things that Internet radio can be used for. Broadcasting music over a "radio station" is just one of many business applications that are using streaming media.

Front End Gear and the Legal Side
Building an Internet Radio Station
Example Radio Stations