Most unsigned bands are lucky to have a few dozen fans at their concerts. Now there’s a chance for local artists to bring their music to a much larger audience—the greater D.C. metropolitan area.

WTOP radio is now broadcasting iChannel, an Internet radio station that features unsigned artists, on its HD Radio channel, 103.5-2. Bands can submit their music to iChannel, which will evaluate it for “playability” (read: they want radio-friendly tunes). Those that make the cut can set up an artist profile and will be able to track how many times their songs have been played and downloaded, how many people have visited their profile, and where they rank in listener ratings.

Because iChannel is on WTOP’s HD Radio channel, you must have a special HD Radio receiver to tune in. Incidentally, HD Radio doesn’t actually mean high definition; HD in this case is just a brand name that’s seemingly intended to confuse people.

Photo by ohad*