How to get your radio station listed on TuneIn, Radio Garden and other directories

Your station can sound great and still be silent to the world, because nobody can tune in to a station they have never heard of. Radio directories fix the “never heard of” part. They are the apps and websites people open when they want something new to listen to: TuneIn on a phone, Radio Garden’s spinning globe, the station list inside a smart radio or a car dashboard. Getting listed is free or cheap, it takes minutes per directory, and it is the single most reliable way a small station picks up listeners who did not come from its own social posts. This guide explains what a listing actually is, who it belongs to, and how to do each directory properly.

1. What a directory listing is (and is not)

A directory does not host your station, record it or re-broadcast it. A listing is an entry in someone else’s catalogue: your station’s name, logo, genre and location, plus a stream link. When a listener presses play, their app connects straight to that link and plays your live stream. Think of it as a sign on a road pointing at your door. The directory owns the road and the sign post; the station behind the door is yours.

That is why directories care about two things above all. First, that the stream link plays, day and night: a listing that points at a dead link gets removed, usually automatically. Second, that whoever submitted the station has the right to put it in front of the public, which brings us to the part most guides skip.

2. Who is responsible for a listing

When you list a station, you are publishing it. Before a listing, your station is something people reach through links you share. After it, anyone in any country that directory serves can find it and press play. Every directory therefore asks the person submitting to stand behind the station: that they run it, and that they have the rights to broadcast what it plays. That person is the broadcaster, and for your station that is you.

Your host is a different role. Nobex hosts your stream: we keep it on air, deliver it to listeners and give you the links. We do not choose what plays on your station, and we are not the broadcaster of it. That is the same line every streaming host draws, and it is why the Get listed checklist asks you to sign one short statement before it opens: that you are the broadcaster, that you are the one listing the station, and that the music and shows on it are yours or licensed for the places the directories reach.

• You submit with your own email. The listing account is yours, so you can edit it, move it or take it down whenever you like, without asking anyone.
• The listing travels with you. If you ever change host, you update one stream link on your listing. Your history, your ratings and your followers stay put.
• Licences are about where people listen. Directories make your station reachable worldwide. Music licences are usually granted per country, so check that yours cover where your listeners will be, or that your music is your own.

3. Before you start: the details every directory asks for

Every directory asks for the same handful of details, and almost every rejection comes from one of them being missing or inconsistent. Get them right once and use the exact same values everywhere:

In Nobex, step 1 of the Get listed checklist is exactly this list, with the logo editor built in. Each directory step then offers your logo as a ready-made file at the size that directory asks for, so you never resize anything yourself.

4. The directories, one by one

Radio Browser

Radio Browser is an open, community-run database of stations. You may never open its website, but many player apps, smart radios and media players load their station list from it, so one listing reaches all of them. There is no review: a station is live the moment it is added, and stations whose stream never plays are removed. It is the only directory in the checklist where Nobex sends the listing for you, and only when you press the button. We take your details from step 1, check the station is not already there, and add it.

TuneIn

TuneIn is the best known radio directory, and it reaches further than its own app: it comes built into Alexa, and Google’s speakers, many car dashboards and hardware internet radios play stations through it. You submit from TuneIn’s station portal, signing in with your own email. Choose Internet Only as the band and MP3 as the media type. TuneIn rejects logos under 1200×1200 and descriptions under ten words, and its terms ask you to confirm you hold the licences for what you play, including from performing-rights organisations. Outside the United States listing is free. US stations are sent to TuneIn On Air, a paid listing; that is a business decision for you, and the checklist lets you skip it.

Radio Garden

Radio Garden shows live stations as green dots on a globe, and its listeners love exploring music from other cities. It is free and selective: editors check every submission, usually within a few days, and not every station gets in. They want the stream to be reachable from your website, and a website that shows your schedule and contact details. If you have your own site, put your player on it and give them that; if you do not, your Nobex Radio station page plays the stream and shows your schedule. Give the city your studio is in, and choose “official representative of the station”.

radio.net

radio.net (radio.de, radio.fr, radio.it and friends) is one of the biggest radio apps in Europe and also plays on smart speakers and in cars. Listing is free, through a short “linking agreement” you sign as the station’s operator; radio.net accepts by email. They want a square 2200×2200 PNG logo on a solid background, your language, and how much talk versus music you play.

Streema, myTuner Radio and Online Radio Box

Streema is a large web directory that also powers the Simple Radio apps on iPhone and Android, so one request covers both; answer yes when it asks if you are part of the station’s team. myTuner Radio runs apps on phones, smart TVs and cars; you create a broadcaster account and confirm you hold the rights to the station, music included. Online Radio Box is popular in Europe, Africa and Latin America; you sign in to its station “Office” and add the station there. All three are free.

5. How the Get listed checklist works

1. 1Open Grow → Get listed and press Get listed.
2. 2Read the short statement and sign it with your full name. It says you are the station’s broadcaster, that you list it yourself, and that you hold the rights to what it plays. It is stored with the date, so your listings have a clear owner from day one.
3. 3Step 1, your details: fill in anything missing (logo, genre, city, country, description) right there on the page.
4. 4Radio Browser: press the button. We send it with your details and show you the listing.
5. 5Each other directory: follow the numbered steps, copy each value with one click, open the directory, submit, then press I’ve submitted it. If one does not suit you, press Skip this one.
6. 6The progress bar fills as you go. When everything is done or skipped, you are finished: each directory emails you when your station goes live.

6. After you submit

• Keep the station on air. A listing that points at silence is the fastest way to lose it. AutoDJ keeps you playing between live shows.
• Keep details consistent. If you rename the station or change the logo, update each listing the same week.
• Check your listings once a month. Search for your station in each app, press play, and fix anything that drifted.
• Tell people where to find you. “We’re on TuneIn and Radio Garden” is a line worth adding to your bio and your station page.

Directories are one shelf among several. Smart speakers are another: see get your station on Alexa. For the bigger picture of growing an audience, read how to get listeners for your internet radio station.