So, what’s the best thing that could happen to an already great site?  Add in some music and the result is just perfection.  SFGate.com, the San Francisco Chronicle online bit, has launched its SFGate Radio, a new, commercial-free online radio service that makes it easier and fun for listeners to quickly find live, Bay Area music shows and discover and share new music with their friends on Facebook and Twitter. And the best part about this is that it is powered by Earbits, a personalized streaming radio with no ads, no commercials, no subscriptions.

“Our partnership with the San Francisco Chronicle continues our momentum and expands our audience to the Bay Area’s most visited website,” said Joey Flores, CEO of Earbits.

“Beyond airtime alone, bands and promoters are responding well to the promotional value we provide to our fast-growing, passionate audience. Our goal is to continue building a scalable solution that removes the burden of promotion from artists and lets them focus on what they do best – making music.”

The difference between Earbits and other online radio services, aside from the ads and the subscriptions, is that they only play songs from the artists that they actually work with.  You won’t hear your typical mainstream pop artists, but actual artists with songs that they know you’ll love.  They are utilizing a very unique marketing strategy; for instance, if an artist is set to play in a certain area, Earbits can actually play their song to listeners of that area, familiarizing the people with the artist’s songs.  They’re advertising the artists without the listener’s knowledge–built-in marketing for musicians. “We’re a marketing company cleverly designed as a radio platform,” said Flores.

If Earbits is on the ‘No Ads, Only Music’ policy, Spotify, aside from reaching the US airwaves with rave reviews and their soon availability on Windows phones, is going the other route, as they received a million dollars from each of their sponsors.  These sponsors include Chrysler, Coke and News Corp’s The Daily. With subscription payments and ads, Spotify is sure to generate a great deal of revenue in just a few months.  The differences amongst music services highlights the exploration still taking place in this emerging, digitized market.