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From www.wdvl.internet.com:
"If you plan to use copyrighted material, then you need to know about how performance rights work. Yes, you can use just about any recorded material out there, as long as you pay the proper fees to the proper folks. The catch is that this can be a bit complicated.
When a radio station plays a recording of a song, a fee is due to both the owner of the copyright in the song (usually a music publisher), and the owner of the copyright in the recording itself (usually a record company). Fees for songwriters and publishers are collected by three performing rights organizations: ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. The record companies' fees are administered by the RIAA. Radio stations must register with these organizations and pay a yearly fee, which is based on revenue, audience size, etc. By the way, online broadcasts are NOT covered by the same blanket license that covers traditional broadcast, so existing radio stations that add an online channel must pay an additional fee to the performing rights organizations.
The performing rights organizations allow small fish (which includes most Internet-only broadcasters) to pay a flat, reasonable yearly fee, and are making a good effort to make the process simple for the millions of small operators that are springing up. Nonetheless, sorting out how to "get legal" with all four of these outfits can be time-consuming. A good primer on how performing rights relate to online broadcasting can be found at: http://www.kohnmusic.com/articles/newprimer.html."
If someone can find some loopholes, maybe we can get away without paying anything at all...though I doubt it. I'm sure who I have to pay though; Barbelith server hosting, or my local ISP... |
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