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New rules put Internet radio in flux

By Burt Lum

The face of Internet radio is changing. With the imposition of new regulations that require royalty payments for even the smallest Internet-only broadcasters, the landscape for the independent, specialty producers will be in continual flux. For that reason, it's probably a good idea to get your fill of your favorite Internet radio shows now, as their longevity is in question.

Once I find a station I like, (and I've written about several of them) I'll listen for a few months and cycle through others that I've bookmarked as favorites. More often than not these days, my return has been greeted with silence. So while looking to replenish my inactive favorites with real sounds, I happened onto a quirky Internet-only broadcast at www.spacelab.org and have been listening regularly in fear that it'll be short-lived.

Access to this stream can be accomplished in a number of ways. I originally found it from RealPlayer's list of Internet stations, and you can reach it from there. A more direct route, and one that I prefer, is to launch Winamp and load the url www.live365.com/play/92204.

If that one doesn't work, try spacelab.org.

The connection with Live365 may be a saving grace for Spacelab.org. While listening to the stream I heard, rather infrequently, advertising much like what you might here on the radio. Although commercial-free streams are more desirable, this might be the price we pay for keeping the streams available.

So what's so good about Spacelab to want to keep it around? Well aside from my personal affinity toward jangly guitars, pop melodies and sappy lyrics, I love the independent voice of personal passion.

The perpetrator behind Spacelab is a young woman in Daly City who likes European pubs and sidewalk cafes. You can read all about her at www.mioi.net. The cool thing about it is the ability for one person to freely share so much information about the music she's passionate about. Either site is a resource to further your own musical explorations.

Indie bands I've never heard of are now accessible. The passion, the dedication, the free spirited nature of individual expression ... it must be youth.

Burt Lum is a click away at burt@brouhaha.net.