Starting my own internet radio?!

Starting my own internet radio?

Hi. I'm looking to start my own internet radio station. I have all of the correct software and I'm pretty much ready to go. The only problem is the legal side of things. I wish to remain on the right side of the law with minimal costs. The radio station will be an extension to my website (www.angrygnome.co.uk), which I have always taken great precaution with to make sure that I have permission to use all of the content that I host. Is there any way that I can broadcast copyrighted music legally free of charge or at least at a very low cost. The radio section of the site will be not for profit and will contain no advertisments. However, the rest of the site does have advertisments on it. If this is not possible, does anyone know where I can find GOOD copyright free music to broadcast? Thankyou for any comments.

I applaud you on being legal. First off, there are royalty rates. second theres a big battle over them right now, check out savenetradio.org and soundexchange.com to get updated on BOTH sides of the matter. personally, I side with savenetradio Many news organizations do also along with several members of congress.

Now, for the fun part. the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 states a few ways to be legal. One is get licensed by ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, (publishing/songwriter groups) and SOUNDEXCHANGE. (performance rights) this will give a right to play virtually 95% of all music, the 5% is in the indie bands, more on that in a bit.

However, there are more affordable ways to get licensed. Loudcity.net and live365.com both have deals with the previous four agencies for low monthly fees. how is that? they do it all on a community type basis. I personally use loudcity, however, as i always state, live365 maybe the one for you check them both out.


Ok, now for the indie section. most indie song writers will not be coverd by the the publishing groups so therefore you need contact that for permission to play their music. the performance part probably is in part to due with that also.

However, soundexchange is taken after its former parent group of the RIAA (they spun them off and no operate as "nonprofit") and feel they have the god complex. and will collect for bands/labels that have not had any contact with soundexchange. they claim its like a bank opening an account, Last time i checked banks don't open accounts for everyone.

Now, you can do direct licenses with bands/labels (nearly all indie bands are willing to be played for free, they see it as promotion where as soundexchange see it as $$ and does not believe there is any promotional value in radio and that everyone should pay including traditional radio. which has been exempt for say, 80 years. )

There are also a couple sites for royalty free music, one of them is http://promonet.iodalliance.com/index.ph... a huge source of royalty free music, more added every week. from labels to bands. there is also http://music.podshow.com/ another good source or a lot of music.

you can also check around myspace and ask bands you find. some will reply others wont. It could be because of indie label stipulations.

If you have more questions or need clarifications try asking http://forum.loudcity.net/index.php... There is a lot of knowledge there. you can also find me there under the same username here. Everyone is pretty much friendly, however, since march 2nd (the day we all foudn the new royalty rates) stress and tension has been high and so i have observed more bickering then i did when i started in july last year, but its pretty restrained.

also, a lot of the people there came from live365, so there is a lot of angst toward them, some are like they were ok, this is better for me, others have streams on both sites. I dont have a problem with live365, loudcity fit my personal needs better .


I hope I helped you out.