You don't need a license to listen to Internet radio, but if you run
a radio station and broadcast music to the general public, you need
a broadcast license permit from the F.C.C. if you are in the U.S. to
legally broadcast (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_license
and https://www.dnalounge.com/backstage/webcasting.html).

See http://www.icecast.org/ for a free streaming server by Xiph.org.

The radio stations in GNOME Radio are non-profit
stations serving the public interest.

The power of the Federal Communications Commission (F.C.C.) reside in
its authority of granting broadcast licenses to local radio stations,
according to page 812 in The New York Times Guide to Essential
Knowledge (ISBN 0-312-37659-6):

  Rather than support a highly centralized form of broadcasting like
  the national public service networks being established in European
  countries, American communications policy celebrated the fundamental
  principle of "localism," convinced that American democracy would be
  served best by independent local stations operating without
  excessive government supervision.  The agency's power of enforcement
  came from its ability to revoke, or refuse to renew, the license of
  a local station -- something that has happened rarely.

With GNOME Radio, you can listen for free to live
broadcasts by radio stations from all around the world, including the
U.S. stations as long as the U.S. radio stations aren't revoked by the
F.C.C. for failing to pay the royalty fees for the music that the
radio stations broadcast on the Internet to the royalty fee collection
agencies such as The American Society of Composers, Authors and
Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), and Society of
European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC).

Enjoy Free Internet radio,
Ole Aamot, February 13th 2019
