Internet Radio Plays More Artists Than Broadcast

We knew this already, but a new study by streamSerf, a company that reports on music played on terrestrial, Internet and satellite radio stations, indicates that last month broadcast radio stations in the US (including public radio stations) played 25,399 unique artists while Internet radio stations played 829,971 unique artists during the same time period. That's a difference of about 3600% and does not even include stations that stream personalized channels, such as Pandora.

But that's not even the real story, according to Paul Mockenhaupt, founder of streamSerf. For him, "It’s the new, fresh, undiscovered, local, home grown music that’s filling the internet airwaves!” that's really making the difference. Internet radio finally gives a chance to be heard to a host of artists that previously had none.

Also interesting is the list of artists that get the most plays on broadcast stations versus Internet radio stations on the chart on the left. This list is skewed a bit because it comes during an unusual period of  Michael Jackson and Beatles activity, but some of the top ten artists are the same on each list while others are very different. It will be interesting to have a look at this chart in coming months when there are fewer superstar releases.