Broadcasting Legal Issues

[TheDmac]

Can someone inform me of the legal issues regarding broadcasting? With a Shoutcast server with a audience under 50 or so (Our audience) do we have to pay royalties? I'm lost on royalties and the laws regarding broadcasting. There's so many different laws and all the websites I've checked say different things. We would prefer to play music purchased off iTunes etc but unsure if that's legal.

Thanks.

[jaromanda]

depends what country you are in, but every country I know of, you do have to pay some sort of royalties to broadcast most music

[ServerRoom]

If you're in the US, see http://www.bmi.com. Your streaming provider should have royalty reports for your account.

[ServerRoom]

For some reason it looks like i can't post links. If you're in the United States, google BMI, you can pay royalty fees to them. Also some streaming providers will have royalty reports for your account.

[dotme]

BMI is only one USA Performance Royalty Organization. You have to pay several.

SoundExchange (For royalties due to Artists/Labels)
ASCAP, SESAC, BMI (For royalties to Composers/Songwriters etc)

In the USA, webcasters have to pay royalties to both the Artist/Label and the Songwriters/Composers.

You can pay SoundExchange under the Statutory License. That means you don't have to go get licensing from each and every record label. But the composer royalties are due to one of the three (BMI, SESAC, ASCAP).

Or you can opt to run with one of the networks that cover royalties for you (Loudcaster, Live365, SWCast, LoudCity)

[Waves]

So as a non-US broadcaster LoudCity would do me no good?

Can an internet radio station really be 100% Legal?
If a US broadcaster uses Loudcity what happens for those listeners who are listening from Japan or UK. Does the Loudcity license cover for those?

I believe this is why Pandora is blocking non-US listeners since they couldn't license the music they play internationally. "In the US, web music is licensed under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, but to stream legally abroad, licences must be agreed with the rights holders"

[ServerRoom]

I'm not sure how loudcity does their royalty fees. We provide a detailed Royalty Report that shows listening hours from each individual country. To be 100% legal you would probably have to pay royalties to each country. I think the best thing to do is to make sure you pay your royalties to the country where you are broadcasting from.

[dathi]

Is it possible to use Burma Strema in Holland? http://www.bumastemra.nl/nl-NL/ they seem to have fixed rates.