By David Garcia
It”s a new way to listen to music and a new way for unsigned artists to get their music heard.
Started just three months ago, RadioFire.net offers an online radio station that users can customize to hear music from artists in their area.
“It”s a laid-back way of discovering new music,” said founder Matthew Henage, a sophomore at UVSC majoring in business.
Other sites require users to search for artists and visit individual pages to find music, Henage said. “With RadioFire, you can just say, ”this is the kind of music I want to listen to,” and when you hear something great, you can learn more about that artist.”
“You would never find them on MySpace, because it would take hours,” said Liliya Velbovets, a senior from Ukraine majoring in communications. Velbovets and other BYU students are working to promote RadioFire.net as part of the student-run Bradley Public Relations.
“It”s really hard to find something unique,” Velbovets said. “You feel like you discovered someone. You discovered some artist that becomes your favorite.”
For local artists, it”s an opportunity to gain a fan base, said Kendrick Johnson, 24, a junior from Ogden majoring in nutrition. Johnson conceived the idea to promote local music.
“Anybody who plays music wants to be heard,” Johnson said. “Any method of getting more publicity is welcomed by musicians.”
Local band Prospect Mali has been using the site for the last two months, said Tanner Christensen, 24, a senior majoring in business marketing and one of the band”s members. Prospect Mali adds tracks from their upcoming CD to the site as they are completed.
“It”s a good outlet for people who are interested in local music to be able to find you,” Christensen said. “The people that are going to be listening to it aren”t people that will be looking for mainstream stuff.”
