So you decided to start your own internet radio station.  Well before you jump in and start spinning your favorite Bon Jovi and Paula Abdul tunes, let's make sure you have your ducks in a row.

 

There are basically three important factors involved in setting up a successful (and legal) internet radio station.

 

1. The station itself.  This is self explanatory, you need to have something to broadcast before you can broadcast.  There are plenty of rules you can study regarding legalities of how soon you can play a request when it's asked for and how many songs from the same artist you can play back to back- but I won't get into that here.  You have, no doubt, done a little research.  Don't scrimp here, a good automation package on a good computer will pay off in huge dividends for years to come.  Some of the the most common are Digital Jukebox, Prophet, Scott Studios and Spacial Audio.  Check the features against the price and you'll find what you need.
2. The streams.  Like a radio studio needs a transmitter, you need streams.  All of the SRP stations use a company called Shoutatme.com to provide robust streaming (and very reliable) in the WMA, MP3 & Ogg Vorbis formats.  You need to check the amount of slots (listeners) you want, against the bandwidth of the each slot (higher bandwidth equals better sound) and the amount you can afford each month.  Our stations stream in stereo WMA9 at 64k, mono MP3 at 64k and AAC+ at 28k (which sounds beautiful by the way.)  The key is to provide high quality sound to everyone... even those on dial up.  Jim Barcus at Shoutatme.com has always been a great answer man in this field and I am sure he wouldn't mind answering your questions.  The key is to BE EDUCATED.
3. The legal part.  You must pay both the songwriters and the artists of the music on your station.  Companies like Loudcity have package plans where they will pay your fees for one low price.  For instance, before Surfside 1640 broke the 5000 TLH per month boundary, our total music fees were less than $40 a month.  These services are very affordable and provide a great way to stay legal.  One side note though, if you are planning on selling banner ads or playing commercials, be sure to either contact SESAC (an additional rights organization) to arrange for one final license, or be sure not to play any of their music in your stream.  Loudcity is very good, however, they do not cover SESAC for commercial broadcasters.

So, in a nutshell, contact a stream provider like Shoutatme.com, an automation company like Digital Jukebox, Prophet, Scott Studios or Spacial Audio and finally a music licensing organization like Loudcity.  After a small investment, you may have a great station on the web for less than it takes to buy lunch each day.  Good luck & happy broadcasting!