Internet Radio: A Free Format For All

The Internet has evolved and made many changes in our culture including personal MySpace pages, individual blogs, the way we trade information as well as the way the public finds and listens to music.

One of the upcoming and most popular formats is Internet Radio. Let's discuss an Internet station, www.ilike2rock.net, who promotes, plays and exclusively features independent artists and their music.

Internet radio stations have been online for more than three years and offer listeners an alternative to "subscription radio" and commercial radio because of the eclectic music formats and unique opportunities for independent bands. The music is being brought to the forefront with stations like www.ilike2rock.net.

I spoke with DJ Tom of ilike2rock.net about the radio station and why it is important, not only the bands and individual artists they promote, but to the public as well.

"First and foremost, it is all about the music," explained DJ Tom. "We offer a chance for the independent artists to submit their music free to us and to do that, they just go to our site and submit the music through a resource called "Music Submit" (we have an exclusive agreement with them). "Music Submit" allows bands and artists to submit band bios', media kits and of course, the music, and this service in turn helps the bands by promoting them on ezines, other Internet radio stations, blogs and music related web sites."

And www.ilike2rock.com adds even more to the table. I asked DJ Tom to elaborate.

"This gives the independent band or artist a unique opportunity to be heard with free exposure on our home page to reach their target audience and a chance for the band to attain new fans. We will also showcase bands in our "Talent Showcase," keeping the band active on our play list. We also use the artists own promotional material (blogs, YouTube, My Space) and link up with them within our web site structure and we even create ring tones for them."

There is a free program on the site to download called "Destiny Music Player" so you can tune in to the station and other Internet radio stations. It is similar to many of the music players for computers and is very easy to use and navigate.

Tired of the same format from your local radio station? Tune in ilike2rock and you can add more than 150 (and counting) independent bands and artists to your music play list. I spoke to DJ Tom about some of the bands they play and promote.

"This is what is the most exciting to me, we play the independent bands that submit to us (and Music Submit), from all kinds of musical genres and it is a free format, for both the listener and the bands. I am very excited for all our bands and artists. Some of the bands we promote are Hypnogaja, which supplied background music for the hit television on FX called "Dirt," Black Frog, who have played at the Sturgis Bike Rally and Hide From Cleo, one of Michigan's hottest bands and we promote all the bands equally."

I was very impressed with DJ Tom and I too am excited to find new bands to listen to on the Internet. After all, it is always about the music.