[icecast] legalities of streaming

[Mark Lehrer]

> This might not be the right list to bring this subject up on, however I
> thought it might be a good place to start.

It is discussed here from time to time.

> What are the current legalities in relation to non commercial music
> streams, or more accurately put non profit streams, and is this
> currently being seriously policed?

Yes it is being seriously policed.  This is controlled by copyright
law; there are three companies that basically control all music
copyrights; ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC.  From what I understand, you will
need a "compulsory" license from each, and they now have additional
royalty payments and reporting requirements for the songs you play.
jwz had a good write-up of this (before the big royalty agreement
though).  It's a must-read:
http://www.dnalounge.com/backstage/webcasting.html

The only way I have found around this is to play music that is
"legally tradeable", e.g. live phish, dead, metallica, etc who allow
you to share electronic copies.  If you use their music this way, then
there can be no revenue of any kind; even a banner ad will get you in
trouble.

It's painful.  Basically it is designed to keep the hobbyists out.
Copyrights should be a lot shorter, and should never be allowed to be
owned by a corporation... works for hire should have different, and
even shorter, terms.

Mark

--- >8 ----
List archives:  http://www.xiph.org/archives/
icecast project homepage: http://www.icecast.org/
To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to 'icecast-request at xiph.org'
containing only the word 'unsubscribe' in the body.  No subject is needed.
Unsubscribe messages sent to the list will be ignored/filtered.