SomaFM
Internet radio station
title: "SomaFM" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["burning-man", "internet-radio-stations-in-the-united-states", "internet-properties-established-in-1999", "1999-establishments-in-california"] description: "Internet radio station" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SomaFM" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Internet radio station ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox company |"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | SomaFM |
| logo | SomaFM logo.svg |
| foundation | February 2000 |
| location | San Francisco, CA |
| key_people | Rusty Hodge, Founder |
| industry | Internet radio |
| homepage | SomaFM.com |
| :: |
| name = SomaFM | logo = SomaFM logo.svg | type = | foundation = February 2000 | location = San Francisco, CA | key_people = Rusty Hodge, Founder | industry = Internet radio | homepage = SomaFM.com
SomaFM is an independent Internet-only streaming multi-channel radio station, supported entirely with donations from listeners.
SomaFM takes its name from Soma, the "perfect pleasure 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. 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
::data[format=table]
| 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 | url=https://somafm.com/illstreet | title=SomaFM: Illinois Street Lounge: Classic bachelor pad, playful exotica and vintage music of tomorrow. |
| 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 | date=March 3, 2019 | title=SomaFM: Groove Salad Classic |
| 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
References
- "SomaFM: About Us".
- (June 30, 2004). "Move over, pirate radio from a Bernal Heights garage".
- (March 14, 2016). "Radio 2.0: Uploading the First Broadcast Medium". Praeger.
- (January 12, 2013). "The RIAA, the DMCA, and the Forgotten Few Webcasters: A Call for Change in Digital Copyright Royalties". Federal Communications Law Journal.
- (March 26, 2002). "Web radio's last stand".
- "- COPYRIGHT ROYALTIES: WHERE IS THE RIGHT SPOT ON THE DIAL FOR WEBCASTING?".
- (May 15, 2002). "Testimony of Mr. Don Henley". [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary]].
- "Senate, House Pass Bill To End Webcasting Crisis".
- (December 24, 2002). "Notification of Agreement Under the Small Webcaster Settlement Act of 2002". [[United States Copyright Office]].
- (June 23, 2005). "NET RADIO BROADCASTING TO CELL PHONES INCREASING".
- (September 13, 2004). "StreamGuys in Affiliation with Coding Technologies and Orban are now Supplying High-Quality MPEG aacPlus Streaming Services for Listeners Using Winamp and Real Player".
- Jake Ward. (June 25, 2007). "The Sounds of Silence Will be Heard By Millions". SaveNetRadio.
- (June 25, 2007). "The Sounds of Silence Will Be Heard by Millions". [[PR Newswire]].
- Murphy, Hillary. (January 7, 2013). "Aha by HARMANTM Becomes Even More Musical with Addition of AccuRadio, Deezer, Rdio and SomaFM". New York Times.
- Hollister, Sean. (January 6, 2014). "Qualcomm's AllPlay music streaming attracts Panasonic, iHeartRadio, and Altec Lansing". The Verge.
- "Best of the Bay 2005".
- "Poll Positions: 2007 Best DJs of the Bay Readers' Poll!".
- (September 13, 2017). "Mixcloud announces 2017 Online Radio Awards winners".
- (March 2, 2019). "SomaFM: Illinois Street Lounge: Classic bachelor pad, playful exotica and vintage music of tomorrow.".
- (March 2, 2019). "SomaFM: SomaFM Live".
- (September 12, 2015). "SomaFM: SomaFM Live".
- (March 3, 2019). "SomaFM: Groove Salad Classic".
- Jardin, Xeni. (January 24, 2020). "I'm loving this Reggae, Dub, Ska and Rocksteady internet radio station". [[BoingBoing]].
- (October 2, 2020). "In case you missed it, we have a new channel, Vaporwaves.".
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