legal issues....

[headbang&frag]

Hi!

I'm interested in starting a SHOUTcast internet radio station to broadcast copyrighted music to AT MOST, 10 listeners at a time (that's all my connection can handle). My purpose is to broadcast music for myself (when I'm at work or school) and a couple of friends. The station will not be publically advertised.

Is this legal ????

Thanx!

[oztec]

if your streaming mainstream music then no its not going to be leagal you will still need to pay royalties due to you streaming that music to other people, unless its unsigned or you have writen permission to play that artists music

[headbang&frag]

anyone else know more about this kind of thing? or how I could easily obtain (free?) permission?? I would only be streaming to at most 10 people at a time!!

Thanx!

[Nick@ss]

the royalty commisions are not going to allow anyone to do it for free im afraid,

if you are streaming copyright content then you legally require a license to do it,

how many that are actually legal on the web is no where near the amount that are illegal on the web.

if you are only streaming to 10 people then i would imagine your licensing costs would be quite low as its based on listsners and revenue as far as im aware,

check out www.loudcity.net if you are in the Us and they will be able to assist you further,

good luck

[seattlepodder]

Hey,

Why not play permission based independent musicians music, there is a TON of music available and it's Kick A$$.

Ken

[streamfinder]

I think you can become a compliant webcaster by following the guidelines on this page: http://www.shoutcast.com/download/broadcast.phtml#copyright

"There have been recent amendments to the copyright law regarding webcasting of sound recordings. These new provisions allow webcasting under the terms of a statutory license, as a way to help webcasters get permission without having to go to each sound recording's owner. The statutory license, however, has strict requirements that you must follow. Some of these requirements include the payment of license fees, limitations on the number of songs from the same album or artist that may be played in a three hour period (called the sound recording performance complement); a prohibition on publishing advance playlists; and a requirement to identify the song, artist and album on the website. There are other requirements as well. The Recording Industry Association of America provides quite a bit of information on copyright law as it applies to webcasting, and both ASCAP and BMI have created license agreements that they are willing to grant to webcasters that they believe conform to the provisions of the new copyright rules for webcasting."

It is probably a hassle to engage in this process and I really have no idea if it costs anything - probably less than $100 a year. If you aren't making money off this streaming then you are probably not on their radar.

[dotme]

It is a hassle, it costs big money (to license direct in the USA usually requires a minimum of $1500 per year), and if you webcast copyrighted music without a license and get caught, the potential penalties are substantial.

The alternative? Go with a shared licensing program (such as those offered by Live365 or LoudCity, for example)

Small stations can legally webcast copyrighted music through these services for prices starting at under $20/month.

[Done Studio]

Originally posted by seattlepodder
Hey,

Why not play permission based independent musicians music, there is a TON of music available and it's Kick A$$.

Ken

This guys says it all - one place to check out is:

Magnatunes - https://magnatune.com/ - They have a ton of music of all genres under the creative commons license that they will let you broadcast free.

I broadcast them now myself.

You can use any music off my new site, even though the genre is ambient / acoustic till I get more people with different genre's who want to post their original music:D

www.radiodonestudio.net

But anyway do a Google search and you will find a ton of stuff without dealing with ASCAP, BMI and the RIAA police.

I hope this helps.

s/ Done Studio

[Jeeper One]

Hi everyone:

There's also the Podsafe Music Network (http://music.podshow.com/) too. ALL of their music is royalty free and they have a slew of genres and moods.

Check 'em out. :)

Hope this helps :)

Cheers for now :)