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About This Section
This page deals with US
Copyright law. If your station originates, or is streamed from,
countries outside the USA, you should do your own research on laws
that apply where you live. Most countries have very similar laws to
the USA.
Understanding US laws regarding royalties
If your new US-based station webcasts
any form of content that is protected by US copyright law, you do
not have a right to air it without paying royalties. The same laws that
were recently used by the RIAA to bring lawsuits against
file-sharing users and operators apply to internet radio stations.
Some stations operate "under the radar" but those operators are
taking a big risk. The penalties if caught webcasting illegally can
be financially devastating. The word "bankruptcy" could be quickly
added to your list of life experiences.
Licensing
your station
So what are the alternatives to running an illegal station? Well, if
you've visited
BMI,
ASCAP,
SESAC and
SoundExchange,
you'll know that these are the agencies that collect royalties on
behalf of the artists and songwriters. They have a lot of
requirements, one of which is a healthy amount of money. In
addition, they require monthly reports including all songs played,
when the songs were played, your revenue and expenses, and more. For
a small station just getting started, direct-licensing with the
above agencies involves a minimum investment of $3000 annually, and a ton of paperwork
that makes IRS forms look like a piece of cake.
Does this mean that for you to
webcast your music collection, you have to pay licensing fees of
$3000/year or more? No.
Licensed Networks
There are a very small number of services on the web that will
license your US-based station with some, or all, of the above agencies for a very low monthly payment.
Three that come to mind are
Live365,
SWCast and
LoudCity. You should do your
own research on which service is best for your station. Based on our
own experiences, we recommend
LoudCity.
At LoudCity you can easily set up your own legally licensed internet
radio station. Sign
up now, and then once you're up and running, return to I
Like Tunes and list your new station for the whole world to enjoy!
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