Radio Free Fedi - sounds from the Fediverse to the Universe
Radio Free Fedi - sounds from the Fediverse to the Universe
About radio free fedi
Our friend Gabe from @owncast@fosstodon.org wanted a 24/7 feed of fedi artists, video, audio, anything. Given various attempts by Gabe and myself at both video and podcast formats with sustainability of content and buy-in issues, RFF was an invitation to a community driven pivot.
radio free fedi is consent, agency and artist celebrating community radio from the fediverse. We actively and openly present contributing artists' information with the hopes that you will drop-in, discover, and then LEAVE? That's right, RFF has no interest to be an end-point for hyper focused consumption. We also do not have the resource to provide infinite custom streams and we love the community to not do soulless algorithms. We want to foster organic discovery and discourse. We want to generate support for independent artists on the platforms and methods of their choice, no judgement. Support independent and fedi artists!
Things we do a little different:
No payola, no automated submissions, every submission is checked best we can to be from a decent fedizen and not likely to harm or harass our fedi friends of all walks
Every submission is carefully checked for good data and imagery best as possible. We have less time as we've grown to fix these so good submissions help heaps!
We add an artist support link affiliated to every track so you know where to go to help each other.
We add consented public fedi link affiliated to every track so you can interact with, promote and share the artists you find.
We add artists' license and permission for every track to celebrate agency and consent and again to foster good communication for support and collaboration.
Provide discovery options for independent artists who, like many of us, find promotion a bit challenging or uncomfortable. The classic fedi LOVES indie artists and promotion in this light is never a dirty word.
Artist data is made available on this website for now playing tracks and there is further track history in various formats including a bot for the main channel in case you missed track data while you were washing the dog. If you require alternative formats for ingestion for other means to help the wider world discover and support fedi artists please reach out.
Stop gaps like Bandcamp playlists on third party tracking sites, various hyper open methods with poor discovery and walled garden corporate streaming platforms alike seldom strike a good balance to retain attribution and actually promote, celebrate, interact and ENCOURAGE direct support of artists without costing everyone involved some painful percentage of coin, privacy and agency. We are continually impressed and heartened at the community that has rallied to support each other around a more transparent and organic discovery layer.
I've been loving RFF the last few months, it might be my favorite new thing I've found since I switched from Twitter to Mastodon. It also always shows you the artists' fediverse usernames so you can follow them, and they usually have a Bandcamp link if you want to buy an album.
They recently said that they could use some volunteer help. I haven't been able to check out what they need yet, but their matrix channel is #radioFreeFedi:matrix.org, I think that's where they organize things.
Permanently Deleted
It's a community internet radio station that plays music (and some spoken word) from artists on the Fediverse.
I love it, especially their 'Comfy' channel.
RFF is amazing, and offers so much high-quality music. Historically, it's all been done by one guy, supporting 500+ artists.
Didn't know about this, I may submit some tracks.
My songs are already on spotify, etc.
Are they still viable or will there be copyright issues?
As long as you haven't given away intellectual property to a label, they're yours to do with as you please.
And you cannot download music from RFF - it's like a regular radio. You listen, discover, and move on. Submitting music to it is not the same as giving up ownership - you choose whatever license you want.
I love RFF. In fact I've enjoyed listening to it more than any other online source of music for a long time.
The positive vibe of the comments here got me checking out the comfy channel, and it's awesome. Perfect background music for working.
The occasional interventions ("you're listening to Radio Free Fedi") tend to be a bit long, which can be distracting. But that's honestly the worst thing I have to say after hours of listening.
I ended up checking out their website every now and then to follow whoever I was listening to on Mastodon. So it's also a good way to discover independent artists.
I dont think I could dislike the name any more than I do.