The new Internet radio page I’ve added has already received its first rave review: my roommate listened to it all day at work. However, I must thank Last.fm, a social music site I’ve written about previously, for providing this capability.

I’m simply amazed - I don’t have to pay any licensing fees, upload music, or provide the bandwidth. The songs are automatically selected based on my music listening history. Last.fm handles the licensing and royalties¹. The upkeep on an Internet radio station is now as simple as listening to music.

Furthermore, I can listen to and share “radio stations” based on any other Last.fm user. Or I can generate a custom station of music similar to the artist of my choice. Pretty cool.

It’s especially impressive to see something like this considering the climate around music licensing on the Internet. See David Byrne’s post on the Copyright Royalty Board’s proposed significant increase in royalty rates affecting Internet, cable, and satellite radio. The legal issues can also be quite a burden for podcasters.

1. I read they’ve secured deals with Warner Bros, EMI, and some Indies ↩