Soma FM Doomed

One of more than thirty curated internet radio channels operated by SomaFM, an independent, listener-supported, commercial-free streaming broadcaster based in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco. SomaFM was founded by Rusty Hodge and launched as a full-time internet station in February 2000 after an earlier incarnation as a micropower radio broadcast at the Burning Man festival in 1999. The "Doomed" channel is dedicated to dark, heavy, and doom-oriented music, fitting within SomaFM's broader ethos of hand-curated underground and alternative programming. SomaFM's history has been shaped significantly by copyright royalty disputes; in June 2002, the station ceased broadcasting following the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel ruling, which would have required royalty payments exceeding the station's revenues. After congressional testimony by founder Hodge and the passage of the Small Webcaster Settlement Act of 2002, SomaFM resumed broadcasting under a reduced royalty framework in late November 2002. In 2005, the station became one of the first internet broadcasters to support mobile streaming on 3G and EDGE networks through a partnership with Orban. In June 2007, SomaFM participated in the Internet Radio Day of Silence to protest further proposed royalty increases. The station operates entirely on listener donations, with no advertising, and all music is selected by SomaFM's music directors and DJs rather than algorithmic or commercial criteria.