Internet is one of the admirable inventions of mankind, as it brings all together millions and millions of folks from around the globe and provides them with a common platform to do an endless list of activities. The ability to find and share information, connect with each other through social networks and play games together are just a few of the activities many internet users enjoy regularly. Due to the advent of internet, a long-time entertainment medium needed to change its ways in order to survive and continue to exist. The technology, you might have guessed, is traditional radio play, which had to convert itself into ‘the radio on the internet’ so it wouldn’t fall behind the rapidly changing digital world.
Radio on the Internet, or Internet Radio as it’s usually called, was first launched in the earlier part of the 1990s but it didn’t find many avid listeners in the beginning. The few pioneer online radios had to adjust the regular system they had in place significantly in order to carve out their audience. This forced radio stations to present their audience with anything they wanted, no matter how divergent it was to traditional radio principles.
The basic difference between regular radio and internet radio is the fact that an Internet radio station can be heard from any personal computer around the world. This means the for example, if you are a located in the state of California in the United States, you can still catch up the online radio shows being broadcast from other states like New York, or even other countries on other continents. Such a feat isn’t possible with the conventional technology and that’s where Internet Radio stations holds a distinct advantage.
The Internet was initially devoted strictly for educational and communication purposes but as soon as its popularity soared, the Congress was left with no choice but to accept its usage for commercial motives too. The very first show to be broadcast through the internet was a tech-based talk show. Soon the musicians got involved and in 1994, famous rock band The Rolling Stones became the first music group to use internet radio for one of their concerts. The radio stations followed this new trend and began to stream their live music for free on the internet.
Everything seemed OK until the Digital Millennium Copyright Act was introduced by Bill Clinton administration, which meant that the online radio stations had to start paying musicians for playing their material. Hence, the free broadcasts turned into a full fledged business where the users now had to pay to listen.
However, since the impact of this decision wasn’t extremely powerful before the turn of the 20th century, a plethora of quality online radio shows had emerged. The number of choices and variety imparted to the listeners quickly skyrocketed, giving listeners the ability to listen to whatever they want at anytime. Internet Radio has not is helping the audience, but also aspiring musicians who benefit from the increased airtime and are thankful for this game changing invention.
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