[icecast] legalities of streaming

[Scott Manley]

Chris G (Moguta) wrote:
> Oh, I almost forgot...
> 
> If you're going under compulsory licensing:
> 
> 1) Listener requests cannot be honored, otherwise you will end up labeled an 
> "interactive service" along with Audiogalaxy Rhapsody & the like.  Which means 
> more & more expensive royalties.
> 
> 2) You cannot play more than 3 songs of the same album in any 3 hour period 
> (no more than 2 in a row).  Nor can you play more than 4 songs of the same 
> artist in any 3 hour period (no more than 3 in a row).
> 
> 3) You may not make available a complete list of the artists, songs, or albums 
> your stream plays.
> 
> 4) You may not make a list available of upcoming songs referenced by order or 
> by time they will be played.

Ahh yes the details of the Vessel Hull Strengthening Act - the exact 
rules are a bit more vague than this and are open to interpretation, 
there's no legal precedent established yet. Rule 2 is commonly 
interpreted different ways - for example Myplay.com always played it 
legal but their legal advisors claimed that the 3-4 rule was - 3 songs 
from a single artist/album if 2 are played consecutively or 4 from a 
single artist album without consecutive plays. So there was no limit on 
playing a single artist in a 3 hour period, as long as you kept changing 
albums...

anyway every organisation I've worked with has their own interpretation 
of the rules.

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