Internet Radio Licencing

[Moh]

Well since a lot of UK fansites have been contacted about this, I guess its best to make plans in case USA do the same thing.

I have been researching about this, and I could only find out information about the law and licensing within the UK.

So does anyone know anything about this law and licence in USA?

Edit by Robbie! (Forum Moderator) - Moved to Online Radios, please post in the correct section next time, thanks.

[RyanDOT]

I remember Hayd was talking about this before, just look through the threads in this section!

[Hayd93]

hey,

Im not accually to to sure on the laws in the USA. The UK laws for internet broadcasting i am also not 100% about but i have a fair idea of what it is ect.

[iUnknown]

You'll have to get a license from PPL UK even if you're not broadcasting from the UK. If you're broadcasting TO the UK, I believe you still need this license.

[Tim.]

1 thing, you are never going to be safe purchasing a license, infact its just going to put you up for surveilance by licensing regs & firms.

This is because your not paying royalties for the music which you play, which means BIG Trouble if you get caught, and well obviously buying a license will mean they'll know your operating, so will infact check up on you to make sure everything if above board, and when they find out your not paying royalties, well you are in crap.

[Hayd93]

1 thing, you are never going to be safe purchasing a license, infact its just going to put you up for surveilance by licensing regs & firms.

This is because your not paying royalties for the music which you play, which means BIG Trouble if you get caught, and well obviously buying a license will mean they'll know your operating, so will infact check up on you to make sure everything if above board, and when they find out your not paying royalties, well you are in crap.

Ye was about to say this. If fansites think that this is a hefty bill wait untill music royalties start getting onto this.

[iUnknown]

If I'm correct, a lot of what you have to pay for the license is a deposit towards royalties...

[Moh]

f you are broadcasting over the internet without any form of licensing, it is not illegal. Unlike standard radio (going via FM/AM or DAB) you do not need a 'license' to broadcast, to own that wavelength on an AM/FM band so to speak. That is the beauty of the internet, no one 'owns' it and therefore it is yours to use how you like, there is no limit to the number of streams you can run. However, if the content of your stream includes any copyrighted material - you are at risk and may be breaking the law if you do not hold the permission of the copyright holder - which for most commercial music is the record label or the artist themselves.
Music licensing is available for individuals and organizations looking to stream copyrighted material online legally. A single fee is usually paid to the licensing body, which in turn is then fairly distributed to the copyright holders.
The following links to music licensing bodies may be of help:
USA: 3rd Party 'umbrella' Licenses for web broadcasting:
www.loudcity.net (http://www.loudcity.net/)
www.swcast.com (http://www.swcast.com/)
www.bmi.com (http://www.bmi.com/)
www.ascap.com (http://www.ascap.com/)
www.soundexchange.com (http://www.soundexchange.com/)
UK:
www.ppluk.com
(http://www.ppluk.com/)PPL - the UK broadcast royalties collection society
www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk (http://www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk/)
The MCPS-PRS Alliance
Germany:
www.gema.de (http://www.gema.de/)
www.gvl.de (http://www.gvl.de/)
France:
www.sacem.fr (http://www.sacem.fr/)
Netherlands:
www.bumastemra.nl (http://www.bumastemra.nl/)


So by that, we just need to pay for streaming copyrighted music?

[Hayd93]

f you are broadcasting over the internet without any form of licensing, it is not illegal. Unlike standard radio (going via FM/AM or DAB) you do not need a 'license' to broadcast, to own that wavelength on an AM/FM band so to speak. That is the beauty of the internet, no one 'owns' it and therefore it is yours to use how you like, there is no limit to the number of streams you can run. However, if the content of your stream includes any copyrighted material - you are at risk and may be breaking the law if you do not hold the permission of the copyright holder - which for most commercial music is the record label or the artist themselves.
Music licensing is available for individuals and organizations looking to stream copyrighted material online legally. A single fee is usually paid to the licensing body, which in turn is then fairly distributed to the copyright holders.
The following links to music licensing bodies may be of help:
USA: 3rd Party 'umbrella' Licenses for web broadcasting:
www.loudcity.net (http://www.loudcity.net/)
www.swcast.com (http://www.swcast.com/)
www.bmi.com (http://www.bmi.com/)
www.ascap.com (http://www.ascap.com/)
www.soundexchange.com (http://www.soundexchange.com/)
UK:
www.ppluk.com
(http://www.ppluk.com/)PPL - the UK broadcast royalties collection society
www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk (http://www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk/)
The MCPS-PRS Alliance
Germany:
www.gema.de (http://www.gema.de/)
www.gvl.de (http://www.gvl.de/)
France:
www.sacem.fr (http://www.sacem.fr/)
Netherlands:
www.bumastemra.nl (http://www.bumastemra.nl/)


So by that, we just need to pay for streaming copyrighted music?
Ye,

Paying for a music royalties license.

[Moh]

Ye,

Paying for a music royalties license.
So how do they work?

I presume its by how many listeners you get (peak and offpeak) and how many hours your broadcasting?

[Hayd93]

So how do they work?

I presume its by how many listeners you get (peak and offpeak) and how many hours your broadcasting?

Ye its your listners and how many songs you broadcast ect.

[Moh]

Ye its your listners and how many songs you broadcast ect.
We might have a little problem with how many songs we broadcast xD
http://habbcrazy.net/timetable/

[Gangster]

We might have a little problem with how many songs we broadcast xD
http://habbcrazy.net/timetable/
Lol, may aswell start saving up now then TBH.

[Moh]

Lol, may aswell start saving up now then TBH.
We shall be, dont worry haha

[Tim.]

f you are broadcasting over the internet without any form of licensing, it is not illegal. Unlike standard radio (going via FM/AM or DAB) you do not need a 'license' to broadcast, to own that wavelength on an AM/FM band so to speak. That is the beauty of the internet, no one 'owns' it and therefore it is yours to use how you like, there is no limit to the number of streams you can run. However, if the content of your stream includes any copyrighted material - you are at risk and may be breaking the law if you do not hold the permission of the copyright holder - which for most commercial music is the record label or the artist themselves.
Music licensing is available for individuals and organizations looking to stream copyrighted material online legally. A single fee is usually paid to the licensing body, which in turn is then fairly distributed to the copyright holders.
The following links to music licensing bodies may be of help:
USA: 3rd Party 'umbrella' Licenses for web broadcasting:
www.loudcity.net (http://www.loudcity.net/)
www.swcast.com (http://www.swcast.com/)
www.bmi.com (http://www.bmi.com/)
www.ascap.com (http://www.ascap.com/)
www.soundexchange.com (http://www.soundexchange.com/)
UK:
www.ppluk.com
(http://www.ppluk.com/)PPL - the UK broadcast royalties collection society
www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk (http://www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk/)
The MCPS-PRS Alliance
Germany:
www.gema.de (http://www.gema.de/)
www.gvl.de (http://www.gvl.de/)
France:
www.sacem.fr (http://www.sacem.fr/)
Netherlands:
www.bumastemra.nl (http://www.bumastemra.nl/)


So by that, we just need to pay for streaming copyrighted music?

Well i can understand what your saying, however a while back i contacted OfCom who are regulators, and was told i would need one, then i was given a price of £209 a year.

[Gangster]

http://www.tehupload.com/uploads/3526c389cbf6fb1adobe.jpgApparently if you only broadcast in the USA you have nothing to worry about.

[Basso]

We've now figured out what this is all about (sort of). The image here was aimed at one Habbo, not the whole of the Habbo fansite community. It looks like the receiver had sent an email to [email protected] with the title Radio Licensing, and Alister had replied to it.

It email also states "Unforchantly as Habbo are not expects, we cannot provide you with any questions regarding the law" (meaning this wasn't from Natalie). We also know it has been sent to one Habbo, as it says "Hi Habbo" not "Hi Habbos" (obviously meaning it wasn't a mass email).

Then, the email had been shared around and got around the Habbo fansites. Once this had happened, people probably started using a cleaver PHP Script which allows you to send emails from any email (for example [email protected]). I hope this makes a bit of sense.

I know this is not an excuse not to have a radio licence, but we’ve solved the email problem. The main reason the email was posted was because somebody must have had an issue/question about the radio licensing.


So basiclly this means, no email had actully been sent from Natailie regarding the Habbo fansite licences, she was a point of contact at PPlUK.

[Jin]

We've now figured out what this is all about (sort of). The image here was aimed at one Habbo, not the whole of the Habbo fansite community. It looks like the receiver had sent an email to [email protected] with the title Radio Licensing, and Alister had replied to it.

It email also states "Unforchantly as Habbo are not expects, we cannot provide you with any questions regarding the law" (meaning this wasn't from Natalie). We also know it has been sent to one Habbo, as it says "Hi Habbo" not "Hi Habbos" (obviously meaning it wasn't a mass email).

Then, the email had been shared around and got around the Habbo fansites. Once this had happened, people probably started using a cleaver PHP Script which allows you to send emails from any email (for example [email protected]). I hope this makes a bit of sense.

I know this is not an excuse not to have a radio licence, but we’ve solved the email problem. The main reason the email was posted was because somebody must have had an issue/question about the radio licensing.


So basiclly this means, no email had actully been sent from Natailie regarding the Habbo fansite licences, she was a point of contact at PPlUK.



HUH? No, PPL contact Habbo about fansite radios, whenever Habbo send out a mass message to the fansites they will use "Habbo" in its singular context as they are only ever addressing one person per email they send out not multiple people per email address. It's like your school giving you a letter about your grades, they will address it as "dear student" not "Dear students" as the information on applies to a single entity.

We know that the emails we have received are not from Natalie Thomas herself because Ms Thomas is talking to Alistair Williams who has requested the document for the fansites the email is shown as being sent to fansites email address because the fansite owners give habbo their personal email address so we do not appear on the header of the emails as we are all BCC: into the email to keep our emails private.

But yeah this is a real kick in the teeth, we also need two licenses.

[GoldenMerc]

HUH? No, PPL contact Habbo about fansite radios, whenever Habbo send out a mass message to the fansites they will use "Habbo" in its singular context as they are only ever addressing one person per email they send out not multiple people per email address. It's like your school giving you a letter about your grades, they will address it as "dear student" not "Dear students" as the information on applies to a single entity.

We know that the emails we have received are not from Natalie Thomas herself because Ms Thomas is talking to Alistair Williams who has requested the document for the fansites the email is shown as being sent to fansites email address because the fansite owners give habbo their personal email address so we do not appear on the header of the emails as we are all BCC: into the email to keep our emails private.

But yeah this is a real kick in the teeth, we also need two licenses.
Why do you need two licences when there is only 1 shoutcast?

[Jin]

because of some real stupid thing where one license only covers one section of royalties and the other covers the other section.

The example they use is,


If you broadcast Leona Lewis’ version of ‘Run’ which was written by Snow Patrol, a number of people are owed royalties. Your two licences make sure everyone who deserves to be paid, is paid.

Leona Lewis, ‘Run’
PPL: License Sound Recordings on behalf of the Performers and the Record Labels,
we pay: Leona Lewis, her backing singers and session musicians who play on the track and the Record Label who released it, Sony Music Entertainment

MCPS-PRS Alliance: License Musical Works on behalf of the Songwriters and
Publishers, the Alliance pay: Gary Lightbody, Jonathan Quinn, Mark McClelland, Nathan Connelly, Iain Archer (‘Snow Patrol’) and the Universal Music Publishing Group

[Moh]

because of some real stupid thing where one license only covers one section of royalties and the other covers the other section.

The example they use is,
So you need two licences because people like Leona Lewis like to cover other artists?

It should be her who should pay then :P