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Compressed music files and increased bandwidth have enhanced the web’s ability to stream audio in real time. As a result, numerous online radio stations and music streaming services have arisen. Here’s an overview of the industry and suggestions for some good sites to explore.
Radio stations
In researching this article, I was amazed at the number of free online radio stations available on the web. Many genres of music can be found; most are commercial-free. The sound quality varies somewhat from station to station.
There are sites that will search for stations that play your favorite music. One of the best I’ve found is radiotuna.com, where you search by genre, artist, or station. As each song plays, the name of the song and artist is displayed along with cover art. If any station is playing your search’s artist at the time, radiotuna.com tells you so and allows you to immediately go to the station.
Other station search sites include radiotower.com and live365.com.
Many commercial stations feature streaming music on the stations’ individual web sites. Also, a large number of stations can be accessed at iTunes. Click on “Radio” under the library listings in the left-hand column on the iTunes home page.
Music streaming services
Music streaming services sites allow you to choose and make playlists of your favorite music. Most also feature recommendation engines which create a profile for each user based on musical tastes, then posts or plays the recommended music.
Popular music streaming sites include MySpace Music, Grooveshark, Last.fm, Rhapsody, Pandora, Deezer, Spotify (not yet available in the U.S.), and Napster. Some of these sites are free, others charge a fee, and others are advertising supported.
The legal side
Illegal music downloading runs rampant on the Internet. There is a lot of buzz about what’s legal and what isn’t. I am NOT an expert, but as far as I can determine, it’s legal to listen to streaming music as long as you don’t record, copy, or download it without paying.
The above music streaming sites are apparently legal; there are several illegal sites which I won’t list. The legal sites pay for licensing and assure the artists are paid for performing rights.
As a musician, I believe that songwriters and artists should be compensated whenever their music is played or downloaded. Stealing music is against the law. Don’t do it.
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