Starting an Internet radio station/show
February 26, 2005 7:53 AM Subscribe
I want to start an Internet radio station (streaming and archived). How do I deal with the royalties issues legally?
Most podcasters and small time online radio stations generally don't worry about royalties, but I plan on doing some big things so I want to get it right from the get-go. The various guides to the copyright law I've found are all rather confusing, although I got as far as finding out that I'd be paying something like 0.02¢ per "performance".. or, as I see it, per track/per listener. However, how is this audited? I might play tracks which I have permission from the band to play, so these I would not pay for. Very confusing :)
More confusion sets in because I'm in the United Kingdom, but would be transmitting my station in the US (in terms of the server the listeners all connect to). Do I need to set up a deal with the various British copyright authorities? Is there a way I can avoid this? Does the UK even have specific legislation for non-commercial online radio stations? I can certainly deal with the 0.02¢ per performance and the $500 minimum requirement, but it's all rather confusing.
BTW, I don't want to use Live365 or some other "managed" service, I want to do it myself, as I understand the tech pretty well. So has anyone here set up a legal online radio station? If so, how did you do it, and how are you dealing with the licencing? Also, is anyone here running a legal music podcast? If so, again, how? :)
Most podcasters and small time online radio stations generally don't worry about royalties, but I plan on doing some big things so I want to get it right from the get-go. The various guides to the copyright law I've found are all rather confusing, although I got as far as finding out that I'd be paying something like 0.02¢ per "performance".. or, as I see it, per track/per listener. However, how is this audited? I might play tracks which I have permission from the band to play, so these I would not pay for. Very confusing :)
More confusion sets in because I'm in the United Kingdom, but would be transmitting my station in the US (in terms of the server the listeners all connect to). Do I need to set up a deal with the various British copyright authorities? Is there a way I can avoid this? Does the UK even have specific legislation for non-commercial online radio stations? I can certainly deal with the 0.02¢ per performance and the $500 minimum requirement, but it's all rather confusing.
BTW, I don't want to use Live365 or some other "managed" service, I want to do it myself, as I understand the tech pretty well. So has anyone here set up a legal online radio station? If so, how did you do it, and how are you dealing with the licencing? Also, is anyone here running a legal music podcast? If so, again, how? :)
Best answer: JWZ did this a couple of years ago. Here's his write-up.
posted by smackfu at 8:17 AM on February 26, 2005 [1 favorite]
posted by smackfu at 8:17 AM on February 26, 2005 [1 favorite]
The only realistic way to deal with the royalties legally is to host your service in a country that does not respect US copyright law.
Then, you can run your service. Simple, and legal.
posted by Jairus at 11:20 AM on February 26, 2005
Then, you can run your service. Simple, and legal.
posted by Jairus at 11:20 AM on February 26, 2005
Response by poster: As a corollary of the above.. which is the best country with decent bandwidth and Internet infrastructure? ;-)
posted by wackybrit at 9:53 AM on February 27, 2005
posted by wackybrit at 9:53 AM on February 27, 2005
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by rxrfrx at 8:05 AM on February 26, 2005