[jeffool]

Radio pays far more per song than Internet streamers do. Running a radio station is $x/song, on the web it's $x/song/listener.

(Radio stations cost lots to set up up front, web radio costs kick in when you get bigger, but until then you'd have to operate at a loss, or go ad heavy.

[baddox]

That's a completely different (and more valid) argument than "pirating lets you listen on demand but radio doesn't."