Soma FM Covers

One of the channels offered by SomaFM, an independent internet-only multi-channel streaming radio network based in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco. SomaFM was founded by Rusty Hodge and first emerged as a micropower broadcast at the Burning Man festival in 1999, before launching as a full-time internet radio station in February 2000. The network takes its name from a combination of the South of Market neighborhood acronym SoMa and the fictional drug from Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel Brave New World. SomaFM's history includes a significant disruption in 2002 when the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel ruling imposed per-song, per-listener royalties retroactive to 1998. Faced with fees that would have exceeded revenues, SomaFM ceased broadcasting in June 2002. Founder Hodge testified before the U.S. Congress in support of lower royalty rates, and following passage of the Small Webcaster Settlement Act of 2002 in November that year, the station resumed broadcasting under a negotiated rate structure. In 2005, SomaFM partnered with Orban to begin streaming to 3GPP-compatible mobile devices, becoming an early adopter of mobile streaming on 3G and EDGE networks. The broader SomaFM network operates more than 30 distinct channels, each programmed by hand-picked DJs and music directors, covering genres that include ambient, downtempo, electronic, Brazilian bossa nova, vintage tiki music, 1960s and 1970s psychedelic pop, and music associated with the DEF CON hacker convention. The network is supported entirely by listener donations and carries no commercial advertising.