OSA Radio

[fugjostle]

Did OSA run into any legal problems running OSA radio? I was of the understanding that any broadcast resulted in royalities having to be paid.

I'm thinking of starting my own but I'm not clear on my legal obligation.

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fug

[butty]

i dunno mate i aint aware of out - u mean from livecast ur sposed to pay them? can ya point us to sum info n e where mate nice 1

[fugjostle]

No Probs Mate...


I'm still researching at the moment but all the information I can find is US based. But the story in the US is that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) established a new "sound recordings performance royalty" that webcasters must pay to record labels, similar to the royalty that both broadcast radio and Internet radio have to pay to composers of songs. (Note: The composers royalty is about 3% of station revenues.) However, the Copyright Office, following unclear instructions from Congress, set a rate for this new royalty that is currently more than 100% of most webcasters' revenues! (If broadcast radio stations had to pay the same royalty rate, it would cost them billions of dollars and wipe out the entire profits of the industry!).... so I still don't know

Let you know when I find something useful..

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Fug

[butty]

o i yeah i read summet about that in a puttied state a few months ago - dont think it applies to over here tho cheers for wordin us up tho fella il keep me ears peeled n that let us know if u find out n e think else

[fugjostle]

As of June 20th, 2002, SomaFM was forced to end their broadcasts by the RIAA or else pay $15,000 a month in royalties. I'm not 100% sure on UK stuff, but "the standard" (below) states that UK law is just as strict as US law on copyrighted material. Lots of info on the web but nothing useful

Some Links

http://www.saveinternetradio.org/
http://www.thestandard.com/article/d...,20294,00.html
http://www.internet-law-library.com/

I'll keep ya updated.

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Fug

[grad]

OSA radio is done through live365.

just recently they levied a charge on all users, not much about $5 a month or something, who want to listen to the stations. I guess this is to cover any loyalties etc.

If you go through someone like live365 you're covered but going it alone is another thing.

[Mike]

I'm not entirely sure about this but...........

I ran a university radio station when i was a lazy stoodant, and we looked into web broadcasting and they finally started doing it just after I left. I believe in the UK you may have to pay certain copyright agencies in a similar manner to 'normal' FM radio stations, who collect royalties on behalf of their members, ie music artists.

We used to have to pay PRS (Performing Rights Society), PPL (Can't remember what this stands for, Phonographic something or other) and MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society)
The costs weren't that high but high enough to put you off starting your own webcasts, should you have to pay them.

Fug if you want more definite info on this, let me know as I know a few people who'll definitely know the proper details!

[fugjostle]

Mike,

I'd been really keen on getting some more information. We are starting a free radio station for the members of our organisation and then, after bugfixes, extending it to the general public.

It is a non-profit organisation so I don't know if that makes a difference. The various DJ's will be playing from around world but we will be broadcasting from the UK and/or US. We have an extensive network of servers allowing us to bounce the broadcast around and maybe set it up coming out of Germany or somewhere... would that get me out of the sh*t with the law?

I'm keen on knowing.. If we start it and don't pay anyone and the establishment turns up at the door will we be hit by a backdated royality debt or a "stop or else" order.

Plus any extra information on costs etc.

Thanks in Advance.

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Fug

[Mike]

OK, I'll see what I can find out.

What you mentioned about backdated royalty payments rings a bell, I think quite a few net stations in the states have been wiped out by ridiculous demands that they're never going to be able to meet, ie 4 years backdated royalties at a stupidly high rate... Anyway rather than waffling I'll try and get some info for ya.

[Mike]

Right then... still haven't had a reply from me mate who I was hoping might give me some info on this (I'll have to give him a ring sometime). However, I've been extremely bored at work this afternoon and found a few sites you might want to take a look at:

www.prs.co.uk - Performing Rights Society
Looks like you have to pay a licence fee to them in order to broadcast on the net, there are details on the site.

www.ppluk.com - Phonographic Performance Limited
Same goes for these, I'm afraid. Bit of a crap site though, it tells you that it's necessary to pay them to broadcast music on the net but then I couldn't actually find anything specific relating to the costs (you may have more luck than me though)

I reckon these are the main two culprits although there's also www.mcps.co.uk - though I think this is only applicable for when you're using other people's music for your own production (ie using music as a backing track on an advert or sampling other people's music in your own records)

As for whether you could use a server in another country to avoid these charges, I did find something on the PRS site that stated their licensing applies to any outfit based in the UK whether the server is hosted here or not

Hope this is of some use, if I manage to find out any more info I'll let you know

Cheers
Mike

[fugjostle]

Thanks a lot for all that info, its greatly appreciated. It looks like we're going to run a talk radio station and forget about playing music unless its good and written by our own members.

No-one wants to take legal liability for it and no-one can be arsed paying for the right.

Once again, a big thanks to you Mike and to the others who helped make this thread very satisfying

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Fug