Guide · Internet radio
How to Start an Internet Radio Station (and When to Add Imaging)
To start an internet radio station from home you need five things: a streaming host or your own server that carries the audio to listeners, playout software that runs the schedule when nobody is at the desk, music licensing for the songs you stream, a few station IDs so listeners learn your name, and a plan for your first listeners.
This guide is for a hobby, community or online-only station starting from home with nothing but a computer. The station IDs belong before the first public stream, not after: a listener who arrives mid-song has no dial position to remember, only the name they hear. Host, software and license prices were checked on the companies' own pages on Oct 23, 2026 and are linked in each step; the imaging step uses the same starter set and credit costs as our internet radio imaging page, so the numbers match.
What do you need to start an internet radio station?
Six things, and only the last one is optional:
- A station name, a one-line format ("indie and folk, no talk overnight") and a web address. Online, the address is your dial position.
- Music you have the right to stream: your own recordings, library music licensed for broadcast, or commercial releases covered by a license (step 4).
- A way to deliver the stream to listeners: a hosted radio platform, or your own Icecast or AzuraCast server.
- Playout software that holds the music, the schedule and the station IDs, and keeps playing at 3 a.m.
- Three pieces of imaging to open with: a station ID, a sweeper and a web address liner (step 5).
- A microphone and headphones, but only if someone will talk live. An automated music station needs neither on day one.
How do you start an internet radio station, step by step?
The order matters less than people think, with two exceptions: sort out the music license before you go public, and make the station IDs and jingles before the first stream.
1. Settle the name, the format and the web address
Search the name together with the word radio before you commit; a name already used by a licensed station will cost you listeners and possibly a letter. Register the domain the same day, because every station ID and liner you record will say it out loud.
Write the format in one line. It decides the music library, the schedule and the tone of the station IDs, and it is the line you will paste into every directory listing later.
2. Choose how the stream reaches listeners
There are two routes. A hosted platform gives you a stream URL, a web player, listener statistics and usually directory listings for a monthly fee. Radio.co's Lite plan is listed at $35 per month billed monthly, with 2 GB of storage and 500 concurrent listeners; Live365's Broadcast 1 plan is $65 per month billed monthly, with 1,500 total listening hours and 50 GB of storage, and its plans include music licensing coverage for listeners in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
The other route is to run the server yourself. Icecast is free streaming-server software released under the GNU GPL version 2, and AzuraCast is a free, open-source, self-hosted web radio station in a box that bundles a server, AutoDJ and a web interface. Whichever server you use, an encoder sends your audio to it; RadioDJ, for one, lists an integrated Shoutcast and Icecast encoder via plugins. The software costs nothing; you pay for the machine it runs on and you do the updates.
A rule of thumb: pay a host if you want licensing and support handled and nobody on the team enjoys Linux; self-host if you have that volunteer and expect to grow past a plan's listening-hour cap. Either way, note the cap: hosted plans are priced by listening hours, listeners or bandwidth, so the bill grows with the audience.
Prices and plan limits as listed on Oct 23, 2026 at Radio.co pricing · Live365 pricing · Icecast · AzuraCast.
3. Pick playout software
Playout is the program that holds your library, builds the hours and fires the station IDs and jingles. If you self-host with AzuraCast, its built-in AutoDJ already does this. On a Windows PC, RadioDJ is available for free, and PlayIt Live's core playout is free for Windows with no time limit, with paid modules for voice tracking and remote management. mAirList Standard is a one-time buyout license at €476 including 19% German VAT (€400 excluding VAT); it has a 30-day trial, not a free edition.
All four import MP3 and WAV files and can play a station ID at the top of the hour and a jingle every few songs. The exact menus for each program are in our guide to adding jingles to playout software.
Checked on Oct 23, 2026 at RadioDJ · PlayIt Live · mAirList shop.
4. Sort out the music license before you go public
Owning a song or a streaming subscription does not give you the right to broadcast it. If you stream commercial recordings, you need licenses for the recordings and for the compositions, and the bodies differ by country. This is a summary of what the licensing bodies publish, not legal advice.
United States. Noninteractive webcasters, meaning streams where listeners cannot pick the specific track or artist, can use the statutory license in sections 112 and 114 of the Copyright Act, which SoundExchange administers. You file a Notice of Use with the Copyright Office (the form goes to the Copyright Royalty Board there) with a $50 filing fee, then pay an annual minimum fee per channel plus per-performance royalties once you pass a usage threshold, and send SoundExchange statements of account and reports of use. For noncommercial webcasters, SoundExchange's 2026 memo puts the minimum fee at $1,000 per channel, covering the first 159,140 aggregate tuning hours per month, with usage above that at $0.0025 per performance; it also says the 2026–2030 rates were still pending and the end-of-2025 figures apply until they are published. Commercial webcasters pay a higher minimum and per-performance rate, so check SoundExchange's current schedule for your category. The songwriters' side is licensed separately by the performing rights organizations; Live365, for example, lists ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and GMR among the societies its US coverage includes.
United Kingdom. An online radio station needs PPL's Linear Webcast Licence for the recordings: Band 1 covers up to 150,000 performances a year at £207 per channel per year excluding VAT, and PPL states that a separate PRS for Music license is also required for the compositions.
Elsewhere, your national collecting society has an online radio or webcast tariff; search its site for webcast. The shortcut in every country is a host that bundles licensing for your listeners' territory, and a station that only streams its own or library music needs none of this.
Sources, read on Oct 23, 2026: SoundExchange Licensing 101 · SoundExchange 2026 Noncommercial Webcaster memo (PDF) · PPL Linear Webcast Licence.
5. Make your station IDs and jingles before the first stream
Three pieces are enough to open: a station ID, a sweeper and a web address liner. What they sound like, what they cost and why they come before launch is in the next section.
6. Load the playout, schedule the station IDs and test
Import the music, tag it by tempo or daypart if your software supports it, and give the station IDs their own category so they can be scheduled on their own. Set the station ID for minute 0 of every hour and a sweeper every three or four songs; the step-by-step for AzuraCast, RadioDJ, mAirList and PlayIt Live is in the playout guide linked above.
Then run the stream for a day before you tell anyone. Listen on a phone speaker and in a car: station IDs should sit at the same level as the songs, and the stream should reconnect on its own after you unplug the network for a minute.
7. Get listed and find your first listeners
Submit the stream to the directories your host supports, put the player on your own site, and pick two or three fixed weekly slots to promote rather than promising 24/7 from day one. Details are in the listeners section below.
What does the first year cost, item by item?
Here is each item at its lowest-cost route and at a typical paid route. Prices are as listed by each company on Oct 23, 2026; the imaging row uses the same starter set as our internet radio page.
| Item | Lowest-cost route | Typical paid route |
|---|---|---|
| Stream delivery | Icecast or AzuraCast on your own server: software free, you pay for the server | Hosted platform: Radio.co Lite listed at $35 per month; Live365 Broadcast 1 at $65 per month including US, Canada and Mexico licensing coverage |
| Playout software | RadioDJ or PlayIt Live core: free for Windows; AzuraCast AutoDJ if self-hosting | mAirList Standard: €476 one-time, including 19% VAT |
| Music license | Your own or library music only: no collecting-society license | US noncommercial webcaster: $1,000 minimum per channel per year plus $50 Notice of Use filing; UK: PPL Band 1 £207 per channel per year plus PRS |
| Station IDs and sweepers | Record and mix them yourself in a free editor | JingleLark starter set of 12 voiceovers: 12 credits, about $3.58 inside the $14.90 pack; produced package: Music Radio Creative lists £399 for 5 IDs and 10 sweepers |
| Microphone | None for an automated music station | A USB microphone and headphones once someone presents live |
Add it up and an automated music station in the US that self-hosts, uses free playout and makes its own imaging pays mostly for a small server and the SoundExchange minimum; a station that wants everything handled picks a host whose plan bundles the license and pays its monthly fee. Either way, the imaging is the cheapest line on the list, which is a reason not to skip them.
Two things grow with the audience: hosted listening hours and per-performance royalties. Everything else is a one-time or fixed cost.
When should you make station IDs and sweepers?
Make them once the name, the music and the web address are settled, and before the first public stream. A new online station does not need a 50-piece package; it needs three pieces that say the name, bridge two songs and give the address. Here are the three, made for a made-up station called Lanternwick Radio with the same voices, sound library and mixing every JingleLark account uses. Each is one voiceover of under 220 characters, so each cost one credit.
Script: “This is Lanternwick Radio. Indie, folk and the songs in between.”
Voice: Rachel M (Radio & DJ) · Length: 4.7 seconds
No call letters online, so the name and one line about the music do the job. Play it at the top of every hour.
Script: “More music, less talk. Lanternwick Radio.”
Voice: Ed (Radio & DJ) · Length: 7.5 seconds
A short line over a riser and a hit, built to sit between two songs in automation.
Script: “Lanternwick Radio, streaming worldwide at lanternwickradio.com.”
Voice: Nathan (Radio & DJ) · Length: 5.4 seconds
For an online station the address is the dial position. Our internet radio page tests three ways of writing it so the voice reads it right.
Lanternwick Radio is a made-up name used only for these examples. The same three pieces, with a request liner, are on our internet radio page with measured loudness.
The first-week set below is the one from our internet radio page: 12 voiceovers for 12 credits, which fit inside the Starter pack of 50 credits for $14.90, about $3.58 of credits for the whole set, with 38 credits left for new liners later. Packs are one-time payments, not a subscription, and purchased credits never expire. Mixing, remixing and MP3 or WAV downloads do not use credits, so the same ID over a calm bed for overnight and a brighter bed for the morning costs one credit, not two. For comparison, Music Radio Creative listed a produced package of 5 IDs and 10 sweepers at £399 when we checked in September 2026.
| Element | How many | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Station IDs with a slogan | 3 | 3 |
| Sweepers between songs | 4 | 4 |
| Web address liners | 2 | 2 |
| Request or show liners | 3 | 3 |
| Total | 12 voiceovers | 12 |
Every file you download is royalty-free for radio, podcasts, social media and paid ads, with no per-play fees and no expiry, so the station IDs and sweepers clear the same license step your music has to. Downloads come as MP3 and WAV, which is what every playout program in step 3 expects. For the full list of imaging elements and how long each should run, see our radio imaging guide.
How do you get your first listeners?
- List the stream everywhere your host supports; hosted plans usually push to radio directories for you, and Live365 lists distribution to TuneIn and iHeartRadio among its broadcaster features.
- Put the player on your own site with the schedule next to it. The web address liner only works if the address leads somewhere.
- Promote two or three fixed weekly shows instead of a 24/7 promise. People return to a time, not to a stream URL.
- Say the name often. An ID every hour and a sweeper every few songs is the cheapest promotion you will ever run, because the listener who found you by accident is the one most likely to come back.
Do internet radio stations make money?
Some do, and most hobby stations do not, which is fine if the goal was never income. The routes that exist are the same four for every small station: sponsors who pay for a read or a short spot, listener support through memberships or donations, a host's advertising program that inserts ads into your stream for a share of the revenue, and selling your own spots once you can show listening figures.
Whichever route you try, two things have to exist first: a stream that sounds like a station, with its name said often enough for a sponsor to believe people know it, and a number you can show, which means the listener statistics your host or server keeps. Build the audience before you build the rate card, and treat the license and hosting fees as the cost of the hobby until the numbers say otherwise.
Can you start an FM station instead?
In the United States, a small FM station means a low-power FM (LPFM) license from the FCC, applied for in filing windows the FCC announces, and it brings the legal ID rule with it. Other countries have community radio licenses on their own terms. That is a different project from the one on this page; if it is the one you are planning, start with our community and LPFM radio imaging page.
Related guides and tools
The parent page for this guide, with the full starter set, a web address pronunciation test and what each piece costs: imaging for internet radio stations.
Once the files are made, schedule them with our guide to adding jingles to playout software.
Make the first piece now with the station ID maker.
Every imaging element, from legal IDs to seasonal packages, is in the radio imaging guide.
Internet radio station FAQ
Can anyone start an online radio station?
Yes. An internet-only station needs no broadcast license; you need a way to deliver the stream, playout software and, if you play commercial music, a music license from your country's collecting societies or a host whose plan bundles one.
How much does it cost to start an internet radio station?
The software can be free: Icecast, AzuraCast, RadioDJ and PlayIt Live's core playout cost nothing. Hosted plans were listed at $35 per month (Radio.co Lite) and $65 per month (Live365 Broadcast 1) on Oct 23, 2026. A US noncommercial webcaster pays SoundExchange a $1,000 minimum per channel per year; a UK station pays PPL from £207 per channel per year plus PRS. A 12-piece starter set of station IDs, sweepers and liners in JingleLark is 12 credits, about $3.58 inside the $14.90 pack.
Do internet radio stations have to pay royalties?
If you stream commercial recordings, yes. In the US the statutory license administered by SoundExchange covers the recordings and the performing rights organizations cover the compositions; in the UK you need PPL's Linear Webcast License and a PRS for Music license. Some hosts, Live365 among them, include licensing coverage for listeners in their plans. A station that streams only its own or library music does not need these.
Do internet radio stations make money?
Some do, through sponsor reads, listener memberships or donations, a host's ad-insertion program, or selling spots once there are listening figures to show. Most hobby stations cover their hosting and license fees at best, so treat income as something to add after the audience exists.
When should I make station IDs for a new station?
Before the first public stream, once the name and the web address are final. Three pieces are enough to open: a station ID, a sweeper and a web address liner. In JingleLark each voiceover of up to 220 characters is one credit, and mixing and downloads are free.
Can I air JingleLark station IDs on my new station?
Yes. Every file you download is royalty-free for radio, podcasts, social media and paid ads, with no per-play fees and no expiry, including pieces made with free credits.
What format do the station IDs come in?
MP3 and WAV, both free to download as often as you like, so they import into AzuraCast, RadioDJ, mAirList, PlayIt Live and other playout programs. The WAV is converted in your browser from the same mix as the MP3.
Is JingleLark free?
Partly. The voice costs credits, because AI voice generation costs real money; mixing and downloads are free. Credits come in one-time packs from $14.90 for 50, with no subscription. A new account gets 1 free credit, and a 7-day check-in streak earns 1 more (it expires after 30 days); you can play every voice and sound without an account, and there is no watermark. Recording the station IDs yourself and mixing them in a free editor costs nothing, but you have to find a music bed you are allowed to broadcast and do the ducking and loudness by hand.
Opening a station this month?
Type your station name, pick a radio voice and download a finished station ID as MP3 or WAV. Mixing and downloads are free, and your first credit is on us.