So many people still rely on the Radio to listen to new hit songs or even get the latest news about media and other sectors. Obviously, radio stations are used for more than just music, and the fact that now we even have “online” radio stations makes things exciting. But what’s more exciting is that you can start your internet radio station easily and start making money from it while creating an online presence at the same time. In this post, I’ll be listing some of the best services that’ll let you start your internet radio easily.
How to make money with an internet radio station
After starting an online radio station, the skyrocketing online presence helps attract big brands. While there are numerous ways to monetize your Radio, here are just a few of them:
Banner placements
Great to start with, banner placements are the easiest (if not the easiest) way to make money from your internet radio station. The concept is super simple; the brands pay you a certain amount to place their banners on your site. Depending on the size and duration of taking it off, you can charge accordingly and quite handsomely.
Host sponsored episodes
Once your online Radio starts to gain traction, more and more brands want to collaborate and sponsor your shows. Usually, sponsoring a show means you’d have to mention the brand’s product/service one or more times during the course of the episode so that your viewers are advertised about it.
Promote products as an affiliate
Affiliate marketing is always going to be an amazing way to monetize your audience, and it goes pretty well with online radio stations. All you do is sign up with your preferred affiliate programs/networks and pick suitable products to promote. You get paid for every sale you refer to it. Some other cool ways to monetize include:
Sell merchandise 👕 Launch membership plans 👥 Start a blog around it 🖱️ Accept donations 💰
With all that said, let’s jump straight into the list of services.
Shoutcast
Equipped with all that is required to create and broadcast your radio station to the world, Shoutcast has to be one of the most known services on this list. In fact, they’re used by over 50,000 radio stations around the globe. Irrespective of whether you’ve already established or just a beginner, this platform has services specifically designed for your needs. On top of that, it’s meant to be easy to use for everybody and has a pre-built monetization option that can be enabled so you can start making money out of it. Be sure to go ahead and get on their 7-day free trial to get a taste of what their service is capable of.
CloudRadio
Starting as low as $2 for 10 listeners, CloudRadio is an affordable yet very customizable and robust service to start your own online radio station. It has a modern console and is packed with great features to support your endeavor, such as:
6 different locations to deploy your radio station Statistics and stats about your listeners Monitoring option to keep a check on your radio server Unlimited bandwidth and no cap on listening hours Fast streaming experience
By default, you get an HTTPS-enabled player, so you don’t have to go the extra mile to do it yourself. There are so many more features that would make the process seamless, so be sure to check this one out.
Airtime Pro
Airtime Pro is another brilliant hosting service to jump-start your online radio station with utmost ease. It’s packed with essential and powerful features that do more than just “serving the purpose”. In fact, it’s an all-in-one solution that has:
DJ management Calendar management Intelligent automation system Schedulable shows Playlists creation Smooth transitions between live and scheduled content Listeners’ statistics
Moreover, it has many automation tools, including built-in social media promotion. There’s also an excellent support team from which you can seek assistance at any time. If you have a team with you, you can add them to the system as staff and assign them roles to make the entire process seamless.
Server Room
Getting started with Server Room is free, which means you can create your internet radio station with this platform without paying anything. Set up within minutes and reach worldwide listeners on multiple platforms and devices. You can start broadcasting even without a PC with the help of a hardware encoder or use one of their free software encoders instead. In fact, you don’t even need to have a website. This platform lets your radio station run 24/7, even when you’re sleeping, by using pre-recorded steaming. Server Room allows using the open-source software called Mixxx, which can take your streaming game to another level. You can become a pro by streaming directly from multiple devices and using it together with apps like Skype. Best of all? It’s completely free!
Radio.co
An intuitive and powerful platform, Radio.co has everything to set your online radio station up without having to feel overwhelmed. It takes care of all the techy and boring stuff so you can focus on the fun stuff, like growing your station. You don’t need any technical knowledge to start broadcasting from anywhere and reach the world. You can also keep it running 24/7 without the need to keep your computer on. Other features include listener insights, real-time overview, in-built content creation and editing, automation tools, and easy scheduling. Making things a notch higher lets you add members and assign specific roles.
Live365
Since 1999, Live365 has helped set up thousands of broadcasters with their online radio station, and you can be the next one to make use of this complete solution. In fact, you can try it for absolutely free by getting on their 7-day trial. This service is filled with plenty of amazing features, such as:
Legally music licensing Monetization via ads Accurate real-time statistics Compatible with any automation system and encoder A single interface to manage multiple sections of the radio station
Live365 also makes the entire process quite easy. You can set everything up within a few simple steps.
Radio Mast
With features like 99.99% uptime SLA, Geoblocking, and listener statistics, it was hard to ignore Radio Mast from this list. Their robust global streaming network allows you to stream Radio live to the world seamlessly despite any hiccups that may be caused due to hardware failure. It has the best-in-class compatibility, enabling you to playback on multiple devices, use various player widgets, and even utilize different encoders. Moreover, you can manage multiple streams and identify your popular timeslots to make better decisions. You can start streaming for free with their $5 credit sign-up bonus as a new user.
Conclusion
Starting your internet radio station with the help of these services can open a new stream of semi-passive income for you. The fact that it’s super easy and simple makes it a rapid decision for you to get started.
