SomaFM
Encyclopedia
SomaFM is a listener-supported, commercial-free Internet
-only streaming
music
station, which started broadcasting out of founder Rusty Hodge's basement garage in the Bernal Heights
neighborhood of San Francisco, California
. SomaFM broadcasts electronic music, indie rock
and lounge music
, among other genres.
SomaFM began as a micro-power 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. 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 concurrent listeners by 2002. SomaFM reported over 6 million listener-hours in December 2008.
The San Francisco Bay Guardian also awarded SomaFM a "Best of the Bay" award in 2005 for "Best Way to Avoid the Top 40."
CARP
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 station could have been forced to pay over $1,000 USD 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.
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.
As of December 2008, SomaFM has not yet settled with SoundExchange.
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
-only streaming
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
station, which started broadcasting out of founder Rusty Hodge's basement garage in the Bernal Heights
Bernal Heights, San Francisco, California
-Location:Bernal Heights lies to the south of San Francisco's Mission District. Its most prominent feature is the open parkland and microwave tower on its large rocky hill, Bernal Heights Summit...
neighborhood of San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. SomaFM broadcasts electronic music, indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
and lounge music
Lounge music
Lounge music is a retrospective description of music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a type of mood music meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place — a jungle, an island paradise, outer space, et cetera — other than where they are listening to it...
, among other genres.
SomaFM began as a micro-power radio station broadcast at the Burning Man
Burning Man
Burning Man is a week-long annual event held in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, in the United States. The event starts on the Monday before the American Labor Day holiday, and ends on the holiday itself. It takes its name from the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy on Saturday evening...
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. Taking its name from the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco and Soma
Soma
Soma , or Haoma , from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-, was a ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the subsequent Vedic and greater Persian cultures. It is frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, whose Soma Mandala contains 114 hymns, many praising its energizing qualities...
, "perfect pleasure drug" from Brave New World
Brave New World
Brave New World is Aldous Huxley's fifth novel, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Set in London of AD 2540 , the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. The future society is an embodiment of the ideals that form the basis of...
, and marketed entirely by word of mouth, SomaFM's twelve channels reached a peak listenership of 10,000 concurrent listeners by 2002. SomaFM reported over 6 million listener-hours in December 2008.
Programming
SomaFM initially offered nine channels of music, which has now grown to eighteen. The most popular channel is Groove Salad with well over 4000 average concurrent listeners in 2010. Secret Agent, Drone Zone, and Indie Pop Rocks come in second with over 500 average concurrent listeners. Most channels play genres that are rarely heard on commercial radio or are "not being done right" according to Hodge. Thus it plays a certain role in creating genres or keeping them alive.| Station | Genre | Date Added |
|---|---|---|
| Groove Salad | Downtempo Downtempo Downtempo is a laid-back electronic music style similar to ambient music, but usually with a beat or groove unlike the beatless forms of Ambient music. The beat is sometimes made from loops that have a hypnotic feeling... |
January 2002 |
| Secret Agent | lounge/jazz with James Bond theme | January 2002 |
| Drone Zone | Drone Drone music Drone music is a minimalist musical style that emphasizes the use of sustained or repeated sounds, notes, or tone-clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harmonic variations throughout each piece compared to other musics... |
January 2002 |
| Cliqhop | Intelligent Dance Music Intelligent dance music Intelligent dance music is a term that describes an electronic music genre that emerged in the early 1990s. The genre is influenced by a wide range of musical styles particularly electronic dance music such as Detroit Techno... |
January 2002 |
| Indie Pop Rocks | Indie Pop Indie pop Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid... /Indie Rock Indie rock Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others... |
May 2002 |
| Beat Blender | House House music House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other... /Downtempo |
May 2002 |
| Lush | Trip-Hop/Downtempo with a focus on female vocals | June 2009 |
| Digitalis | rock | June 2009 |
| Space Station Soma | ambient | June 2009 |
| Sonic Universe | avant-garde jazz | June 2009 |
| Illinois Street Lounge | lounge | June 2009 |
| Boot Liquor | Americana | June 2009 |
| Tag's Trip | trance | June 2009 |
| Doomed | Industrial Industrial music Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the... /Ambient |
June 2009 |
| Mission Control | NASA mission broadcasts and live shuttle coverage mixed with ambient music | August 2009 |
| PopTron! | Electropop and indie dance rock with sparkle and pop | August 2009 |
| Covers | Cover songs | August 2009 |
| Suburbs of Goa | Desi-influenced Asian world beats and beyond | August 2009 |
| Underground 80s | Early 80s UK Synthpop and a bit of New Wave | 2010 |
| 480 Minutes | "What alternative rock radio would sound like had Nirvana never happened." | 2011 |
| Xmas in Frisco | eclectic and irreverent winter holiday-themed music, some which is "NSFW NSFW Not suitable/safe for work , not work-suitable/safe , or not school-suitable is Internet slang or shorthand... " and offensive. |
Seasonal |
| Christmas Lounge | a "family-friendly" holiday channel featuring "Chilled holiday grooves and classic winter lounge tracks" | Seasonal |
No longer broadcasting
- Squidradio Downtempo (1/2002-6/2002)
- Squidradio drum'n'bass (1/2002-6/2002)
- Soma House Party (1/2002-6/2002)
- We are Electro (5/2002-6/2002)
- Jazz Masterz (5/2002-6/2002)
Awards and Credits
DJ Elise Nordling, Music Director and DJ of SomaFM's "Indie Pop Rocks!" station, was awarded the San Francisco Bay Guardian's "Best DJ of the Bay" award in 2005, 2007, and 2009. In 2007, they wrote, in part: "DJ Elise is renowned for her impeccable taste, encompassing everything from bleeding-edge unsigned bands to classic small-label favorites... Because of this pioneer's curatorship, Indie Pop Rocks! has become required listening on a global scale."The San Francisco Bay Guardian also awarded SomaFM a "Best of the Bay" award in 2005 for "Best Way to Avoid the Top 40."
Track History
Although SomaFM makes a short track history list for each station available, longer last-played track listings and station history are largely unavailable. In 2009, song history for each station was available through per-station Twitter accounts, but this was eventually discontinued. Extended song history and station history search is unofficially tracked by Somaseek since February 2010. Somaseek is not affiliated in any way with SomaFM and is operated and maintained by a fan of SomaFM.Conflict with SoundExchange
In May 2002, the DMCADigital Millennium Copyright Act
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization . It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to...
CARP
Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel
The Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel system is a part of the United States Congress involved in making decisions regarding copyright royalties.- Panel Function :...
rate ruling came into effect, requiring internet broadcasters to pay a per song per listener royalty to SoundExchange
SoundExchange
SoundExchange is a non-profit performance rights organization that collects royalties on the behalf of sound recording copyright owners and featured artists for non-interactive digital transmissions, including satellite and Internet radio.-History:Prior to 1995, SRCOs in the United States did not...
for the performance of the sound recording, retroactively through October 1998. Hodge estimated that the station could have been forced to pay over $1,000 USD 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
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
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
SoundExchange
SoundExchange is a non-profit performance rights organization that collects royalties on the behalf of sound recording copyright owners and featured artists for non-interactive digital transmissions, including satellite and Internet radio.-History:Prior to 1995, SRCOs in the United States did not...
. SomaFM resumed broadcasting in late November 2002 under this new royalty structure.
On June 26, 2007, SomaFM participated in the "Internet Radio Day of Silence" in protest of the Copyright Royalty Board
Copyright Royalty Board
The Copyright Royalty Board is a U.S. system of three Copyright Royalty Judges who determine rates and terms for copyright statutory licenses and make determinations on distribution of statutory license royalties collected by the United States Copyright Office of the Library of Congress...
's recent decision to raise royalty fees for internet radio stations.
As of December 2008, SomaFM has not yet settled with SoundExchange.