A Guide For J-Rock Online Radio Stations

Online radio has taken off in recent years to become one of the fastest growing digital frontiers for entertainment. Here are several ways you can enjoy the best of Asian rock and pop on the net from grassroots organizations who know what they’re talking about.

JRockRadio.com – probably the most obvious place to start, wouldn’t you think? JRockRadio.com features streaming audio on a random selection. Though this isn’t really a “radio show” with DJs, commentaries, and structured playlists, it does offer the ability to switch between genres and skip the current song. The quality of the stream isn’t the best, but you can hear artists from all over Asia and read articles and reviews while listening.

Japanator Radio Podcast Download – from ZB’s A to Z of J-Music, this radio download features artist spotlights, new music, and some of the best from a range of genres. They’re up to 120 episodes now, and you can listen at your leisure.

TaintedReality.net – This is one of the best sources on the net for quality J-Rock radio broadcasts. Includes DJs, interviews, live news, call in opportunities, and is presented LIVE! TR is best for fans of metal, hard rock, and indies. You wont find much pop here ;-) Be ready for a great time!

CureRockRadio @ cure247.com – Hands down the best source for formatted online J-rock radio with options. Cure Media are the gold standard for j-rock presentation in the U.S., featuring some of the biggest bands in the scene. The radio is 24/7 and allows to you choose between a live stream or an On Demand option of selected songs you can listen to immediately. The site is also jam-packed with videos and many other goodies like video fan letters and special guest host spots. For the serious Japanese rock fan, start here!

Japan-A-Radio – if you like some serious Otaku tunes and happy bouncy pop, this is the station for you. Lots of Pop. Lots of anime themes.

Last.FM JRock tag Radio – Last.FM is your most comprehensive radio experience available, especially if you want to learn about the artists. Since this is user-generated content, you’ll get a wide spectrum of adherence to the tag. Last.FM is one of my favorite websites (as a member/user) but their radio is just streaming songs rather than hosted programming. This will expose you to numerous new artists since many unsigned/new bands use Last.FM to promote themselves. For each song, you’ll be presented with an overload of band info from bios, photos, videos, albums, tags, top tracks, top listeners, similar artists, community groups, related radio stations, upcoming live events, a shoutbox— All of this is presented on the radio page and refreshes with every song!

Shoutcast JRock tag – Shoutcast is a site that allows average users to have their own stream of music hosted and broadcast to the world. Here is the search page for the “jrock” tag which has brought up about 10 stations. It’s my experience that most of the Shoutcast “jrock” stations play only pop and anime music, but if you want something lighter and sweeter than metal or rock, this might be a good place to start.

If you know of a great place to listen to Japanese pop or rock on the internet, please let us know in the comments! We know there are more out there, but we also know the stations listed above are quality sources to expand your J-music horizons!