Independent music exists at many levels: The bedrooms and garages where the music gets created; the house concerts, private parties, and coffee shops where new music gets played; and the downtown clubs that book established original bands. Artists and bands that make it all the way around the musical Monopoly board to Park Place get signed to an indie label, or maybe even a major. But it’s not until they reach that point that they can hope for much in terms of radio play. Much beer has been drunk and spilled complaining about this fact.
Now all that is changing for unsigned Seattle-area bands, thanks to SoKing Internet radio, sokinginternetradio.com. SKIR is committed to playing local artists from King Kounty via Internet audio streaming, and they plan to go live in February. They are in beta testing now, so go out and hit the stream. I’ve been listening to them for a couple days, and have heard plenty of singer-songwriter, pop, rock, and metal, plus a sprinkling of alt-country and R&B. The station is taking submissions from local artists, so everyone has a shot.
If you want to know more about what music is being made in your neighborhood, give SoKing Internet Radio a listen. If you are a music maker in the Seattle area with good-quality recordings, send them in via SKIR’s “Artist Submission” page. And if you are a business who wants to sell to independent musicians and the people who love them, contact SKIR to book advertising – because it takes more than love to keep the doors open.
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Thanks for the kind words Norm! We’ve still got a lot to learn about the music business, but we’re absolutely committed to boosting local musicians in any way we can. We’re just taking baby steps right now, but we have a lot of plans around the web site and our broadcast that I think folks will like.
-Mike @ SoKing Internet Radio