MIA Chatter is a new podcast to hit the Internet, hosted by secondyear music industry arts students Andrew van der Voort, Justin Shorey and Justin Helle.

The podcast, which is three weeks in the making, stemmed from their interest in and knowledge of the local music scene.

"We have access to a large community of musicians who are not promoted to people who could make a difference," said Shorey.

"Self-promotion is great, but when other people promote you — it looks better for everyone," added van der Voort.

Each episode of MIA Chatter, offered free on MySpace, sets out to educate listeners on music they've never heard before. The show usually opens with a performance from the featured artist followed by an interview. Their most recent guest was artist James Vineyard.

The podcast also aims to discuss the industry — especially as the majority of their listeners are their fellow classmates.

"It seems like people are really getting excited by it, and we can get more selective about our guests," said Shorey. The show is actually booked with artists until late October.

The group records from their home where they set up a small studio. Given that they aren't radio students, they've faced some challenges in recording like learning not to talk in circles, said Helle. They've also had to watch their "um's" and "yeah's," added Shorey, after hearing criticism from his mom when she listened to one of their earlier shows.

Their goal with the podcast is to expand their catalogue and eventually get a space on iTunes where they'd continue to offer episodes for free. They'd also love to get professional critiques and comments on the music industry from MIA staff, said van der Voort.

Eventually, they hope the rest of London gets in on MIA Chatter, he said. They're putting out a call to local artists to get in touch if they want to be featured on the program.

They're also looking for more listeners to give feedback, discussion topics and pose questions for the hosts to answer in future episodes.

For those who want to hear more about MIA Chatter, tune into their MySpace page at www.myspace.com/miachatter. Got an idea for their show? Shoot them an email at miachatter@gmail.com.