Internet Radio Airplay Monitoring
Internet Radio Airplay Monitoring You Can See in Public
SpinCounts follows the online streams and playlists of 6,700+ stations — online-only broadcasters, FM stations we hear through their streams, and satellite channels — and publishes every play it detects: the station, the date and the time. Look up any song free, no account needed.
Lookups are free without an account. Airplay reports are free and unlimited with a free account.
What internet radio airplay monitoring means
Internet radio airplay monitoring is the practice of watching online radio stations around the clock and recording every song they play — the title, the artist, the station and the moment it aired. For most independent artists that is where radio airplay actually happens: online-only stations, mixshows, college and community stations that stream, and the online simulcasts of FM stations that never make it into the industry chart panels.
The industry panels used for the major charts are built for the biggest commercial FM signals. Internet stations sit outside them, so an artist getting real rotation online often has no record of it at all. Monitoring fills that gap — and SpinCounts goes one step further by publishing what it detects on open pages instead of behind a login.
How SpinCounts monitors online radio
Streams and playlists, read continuously
Stream metadata, not uploads
Online stations announce the song they are playing inside their stream or on their public playlist. SpinCounts reads that announcement continuously. You never upload audio, encode a file or register a track.
Roughly seven in ten stations via their stream
Of the 6,700+ stations we track, about seven in ten reach us through an internet stream or online playlist — online-only broadcasters together with FM stations we follow online. The rest are FM broadcast-group feeds and satellite channels.
Your whole catalog, automatically
Every song a monitored station announces is matched to its recording, so your back catalog, remixes and features are tracked without choosing which songs to "enroll".
Measured, not promised, speed
In a 48-hour sample in September 2026, 46% of the plays we logged were stored within an hour of airing and 99% within four. Every play keeps the air time the station reported. See our measured detection times.
Public station pages
Every monitored station has a public page with what it played recently and its top songs this week — so you can check a station's rotation before you pitch it, and afterwards.
Free reports
Turn the detected plays into a shareable airplay report — free and unlimited with a free account, no per-report purchase.
What you get for an online station that plays your song
- The play itself, with a timestamp. Each detection is listed on the track's public page with the station and the time it aired, so the record is auditable by anyone you send it to.
- The stations behind the number. Track pages list the stations that have played the song; station pages show what else is in rotation there.
- Where the airplay is. A heat map of the cities and regions spinning the song, built from the stations' locations.
- Weekly charts. 16 public genre charts of songs released in the last 24 months, ranked purely by detected plays across the network (each station counts at most 50 plays of a song per chart week) — no pay-for-placement.
- A claimable artist page. Claim your artist page free to manage your profile and generate reports from your dashboard.
What internet radio monitoring can and cannot see
Monitoring reads what a station announces. A stream that carries no song titles — or announces the station name instead of the song — cannot be tracked this way, and neither can a station we have not added yet. The network is U.S.-focused: most stations, and most detected plays, are in the United States, with a smaller share elsewhere. Detection follows each station's own reporting, so a play can take minutes or a few hours to appear (the measured figures are above). SpinCounts is not a census of all radio and does not replace your performing-rights organisation; the full list of what we do and do not claim is on the methodology page.
Streaming and terrestrial airplay also pay differently — internet plays can earn digital performance royalties for the recording, FM plays in the U.S. pay only the songwriting side. The terrestrial vs internet radio guide and the airplay royalties explainer cover both.
How this compares to other internet radio monitors
Most internet radio monitoring services keep the data behind a login and charge per report or per song: DigitalRadioTracker sells weekly reports one at a time, and WARM meters by the number of songs you enroll each month (both verified on their public sites, July and September 2026). SpinCounts publishes the plays on open station, track and artist pages, tracks your whole catalog without song slots, and makes reports free with an account. Where those services are genuinely stronger — DRT's chart history and plaques, WARM's fingerprinting of stations that publish no metadata and its international reach — is set out on the comparison pages: Digital Radio Tracker alternative and SpinCounts vs WARM.
Start monitoring your internet radio airplay
- 1Search your song
Type the title or artist into the radio airplay tracker. If a monitored station has played it, the plays, stations and times are already public.
- 2Claim your artist page
Claiming is free and gives you a dashboard for every song under your name.
- 3Generate a free report
With a free account, download an airplay report for any song, as often as you need.
Internet radio monitoring FAQs
Is internet radio airplay monitoring free on SpinCounts?
Yes. Looking up any song, artist or station is free and needs no account. Airplay reports — the shareable PDF with every play, station and time — are free and unlimited with a free account. There are no song slots, credits or per-report purchases.
Which internet radio stations do you monitor?
The network covers 6,700+ stations and is U.S.-focused: online-only broadcasters, college and community stations that stream, FM stations followed through their online streams, and satellite channels. Every one has a public page — browse or filter them by country, region and format on the stations directory.
Do I have to upload my song or register it first?
No. Monitoring reads the song announcements stations publish in their streams and playlists, so any recording a monitored station announces is matched automatically — your whole catalog, including older releases, remixes and features. Claiming your artist page is optional and free; it adds a dashboard and reports.
How quickly does an internet radio play show up?
It depends on the station. In a 48-hour sample in September 2026, 46% of the plays we logged were stored within an hour of airing and 99% within four hours. Each play keeps the air time the station reported. See our measured detection times.
A station plays my song but it is not on SpinCounts — can you add it?
Often, yes. If the station announces song titles in its stream or on a public playlist, it can usually be added; send us the station name and its website or stream link through the contact page. Stations whose streams carry no song titles cannot be monitored this way.
Do internet radio plays earn royalties?
In the U.S., internet and satellite plays can earn digital performance royalties for the sound recording (collected through SoundExchange) as well as songwriting royalties through the PROs, while FM plays pay only the songwriting side. Monitoring gives you an independent record to compare with your statements; it does not replace registering with those organisations. Details are in the airplay royalties explainer and the terrestrial vs internet guide.
See which online stations are playing you
No upload, no song slots, no report to buy. Search first, claim your page, then share the proof.
