What is this about?

There are a lot of people streaming music on the internet through various means. Some are internet radio stations and their DJ's. Some are Club DJ's who run streams in virtual nightclubs on the net. Many of these people aren't aware that this activity requires payment of royalties. Many are also unaware that there are existing laws regulating these streams. We beleive that most people want to support the artists that they play and if they knew they were supposed to, would pay the appropriate royalties. We beleive that they would follow the rules if they were aware that such rules existed. Our mission is to increase awareness of these laws and help both current and potential DJ's and station owners become Legal DJs.

Specific DMCA Requirements

The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) governs certain requirements and rules with which persons transmitting digital media must comply. These are the requirements that you must follow in order to be DMCA compliant.

1. No requests can be played within 60 minutes of receiving the request.
2. No more than 1 song by any specific artist, album, or box set may be played for each 1 hour period of your show and no more than 2 songs may be played back to back in a 2hr show.
3. Music playlists for your show may not be posted anywhere prior to the airing of your show
4. No bootleg concert audio may be played during your show.
5. All music played must have proper ID3 tagging (artist, album, song title) and this information must be passed to the listeners with your streams.

So who do I pay?

Licensing requirements are different based on the size of your broadcast audience. You are required to pay royalties to ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and SoundExchange. There are companies that bundle all these licenses for you and you pay your royalties through that company in one monthly fee. In some cases, you can also bundle in your stream hosting with the licensing costs. In the U.S.A., LoudCity, SWCast, and Live365 can get you started broadcasting conveniently for reasonable prices.

I just want live DJs in my virtual nightclub

There are two ways to do this legally. One is to only hire Legal DJs with their own legal streams. The other is to purchase your own stream, your own licensing, and then hire Legal DJs so that you and your stream remain legal.

I just want to DJ for fun

That's great, but if it wasn't fun, none of us would do it. Every hobby has some type of cost related to it and internet radio is no different. If you stream music online you have to pay royalties, regardless of the size of the audience.

Do your part to keep royalty rates low

Broadcasting legally and paying your royalties helps tremendously in defeating record label and artist misconceptions about internet DJs and radio stations. Get your streams licensed and mention it on your website and in your promotional activities. Visit www.SaveNetRadio.org and contact your congressman and senators and request that they support the Internet Radio Equality Act. Let them know that you are supporting the artists by paying royalties but if they allow it to become unaffordable, that artist revenue source will dry up. Pirate streams make us all look bad.

Disclaimer: We are not lawyers, thus we cannot offer legal advice. We are providing this information without warranty and some rules may not apply in the country where your broadcast originates. We cannot be held responsible if you follow this information and find yourself in legal trouble. We recommend you consult with a copyright lawyer for your business needs. The information on this site is intended to inform potential broadcasters of their responsibility to pay royalties on their broadcast if they stream music on the internet.

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