Internet radio licensing
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An Internet radio license is a specific type of
broadcast license A broadcast license is a type of spectrum license granting the licensee permission to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses generally include restrictions, which vary ...
that allows the licensee to operate an
Internet radio station Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...
. The licensing authority and number of licenses required varies from country to country, with some countries requiring multiple to cover various areas of a station's operation, and other countries not having stringent licensing procedures in place. Licensing costs also vary, based on the number of listeners that a station has, as well as other factors such as the number of songs played, the number of broadcast hours, and whether tracks are dubbed to a digital playout system. Licensing fees for Internet radio have often been the subject of controversy. For example, in 1998, the passing of the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or s ...
meant that US-based Internet radio and
satellite radio Satellite radio is defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)'s ITU Radio Regulations (RR) as a ''broadcasting-satellite service''. The satellite's signals are broadcast nationwide, across a much wider geographical area than ter ...
stations would have to pay separate royalties to recording artists and sound recording copyright owners, unlike traditional over-the-air stations that paid royalties only for the use of the underlying musical works. This led to the creation of the ''SaveNetRadio.org'' petition group, in addition to the proposal of the Internet Radio Equality Act. In some countries, stations which broadcast via other mediums – for example, by AM, FM and
DAB digital radio Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services. Types In digital broadcasting syst ...
– typically must also obtain a separate broadcast license in order to simultaneously broadcast via the Internet. Multimedia content is intellectual property. These regulations on this property differ from country to country; however, the general rule is that the station must own, or have a license to broadcast the content that is covered under copyright regulations. Content that has been released under some creative commons licenses, public domain or similar can be streamed with no special content licensing requirements. However the content licensed unde
non-free cultural Creative Commons licenses with non-commercial (NC) clause
cannot be streamed if Internet broadcast station has any form of advertising, either in the stream or on the station website.


Internet radio licensing by country


Netherlands

Internet radio licensing in the Netherlands is partially dealt with by the main Dutch royalty body
BUMA/STEMRA BUMA/STEMRA are two private organisations in the Netherlands, the Buma Association (Dutch: ''Vereniging Buma'') and the Stemra Foundation (Dutch: ''Stichting Stemra'') that operate as one single company that acts as the Dutch collecting society for ...
, which charges a fixed fee in order for a station to broadcast via the Internet.


United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, Internet radio stations may obtain licenses from both the
MCPS-PRS Alliance PRS for Music Limited (formerly The MCPS-PRS Alliance Limited) is a British music copyright collective, made up of two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). It undertake ...
and
Phonographic Performance Limited Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) is a British music copyright collective. It is a private limited company that is registered in the UK. PPL was founded by Decca Records and EMI and incorporated on 12 May 1934, and undertakes collective ...
.Mediauk.com - Licences for an Internet radio station
/ref> These licences are optional, in that they are only required to compensate rights holders (a legal requirement). For a station broadcasting only libre or original content works, a licence isn't required to operate an internet radio station and no
Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
Licence is required for Internet broadcasting. Although the fees for the
MCPS-PRS Alliance PRS for Music Limited (formerly The MCPS-PRS Alliance Limited) is a British music copyright collective, made up of two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). It undertake ...
is largely fixed, the fees for
Phonographic Performance Limited Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) is a British music copyright collective. It is a private limited company that is registered in the UK. PPL was founded by Decca Records and EMI and incorporated on 12 May 1934, and undertakes collective ...
is calculated based on the number of tracks played per hour, in addition to the number of listeners (calculated via
Internet radio audience measurement Internet radio audience measurement is any method used to determine the number of people listening to an Internet radio broadcast. This information is usually obtained from the broadcaster's audio streaming server. Icecast, Nicecast, and SHOUTcast ...
). In addition to these two main licenses, stations may also pay the PPL dubbing fee in order to store those tracks to a hard-drive or other storage device for playout, and the MCPS-PRS TV and Radio Advertisement License in order to use commercial copyrighted music in advertisements and promotional pieces. The multitude of licenses required, and the accumulative cost of them all, have priced many small stations out of running sustainably via Internet mediums with the exception of stations that play solely freely licensed content.


Hungary

In Hungary, internet radio stations must obtain licences both the
Association of Hungarian Record Companies Hungarian Recording Industry Association (Hungarian: ''Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége'', more commonly abbreviated to MAHASZ or Mahasz) is the Hungarian music industry association, founded in 1992. MAHASZ issues the Hungarian Music Awards, a ...
and the Artisjus Hungarian Copyright Protection Association Artisjus Wikipedia entry (in Hungarian). They have fixed fees, that means cca. 95 EUR per month together, plus 4% of the Income of the station. In 2015
Rendőrség The ''Rendőrség'' (English: Police) is the national civil law enforcement agency of Hungary and is governed by the Interior Ministry. History Until 2006, the police operated under the authority of the Ministry of Interior. From 2006 to 2010, ...
(English: ′Guard of Order′ or Police) in coordinated action was raided more than 200 'illegal' stations, seized streaming servers, PCs. 1–2 years later the owners were charged with violation of copyright law. Since the new Media Law was adopted in 2011, Internet Stations must obtain a special licence from the NMHH (National Media and Communications Authority) by sending the exact schedule and financial plan. According to the plans, licensed internet radio stations are required to include music made in Hungary 35% of broadcasting time, and must send weekly reports from the aired contents to the Authority, like FM stations now.


North America

Neither the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) in the United States nor the
Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...
(CRTC) in Canada currently require a licence for broadcasts via the Internet originating in their respective countries.FCC Licensing Systems
/ref>
/ref> However, stations that play recorded music are required to pay licensing fees or
royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...
through
ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...
, BMI, or
SESAC SESAC is a for-profit performance-rights organization in the United States. Founded in 1930 as the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers, it is the second-oldest performance-rights organization in the United States.
, depending upon which organization licensed the recording.
SoundExchange SoundExchange is an American non-profit collective rights management organization founded in 2003. It is the sole organization designated by the U.S. Congress to collect and distribute digital performance royalties for sound recordings. It pays f ...
also works with music industry partners in the United States and around the world to collect performance royalties generated through airplay on Internet radio stations. Stations that broadcast only via the Internet may voluntarily register for a standardised identifier or
call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
throug
Internet Radio Uniform Callsign
(IRUC),Internet Radio Station Standardised Callsign Usage
/ref> an industry organisation that provides the system as a means to efficiently catalog participating stations in the United States, Canada and Mexico; these call signs are not mandatory and are not a license to broadcastFAQ: "Is an IRUC callsign a broadcasting license?"
/ref> and do not exempt the broadcaster from paying music licensing fees. IRUC's system utilizes standardised call sign prefixes as allocated by the
International Telecommunication Union The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...
(ITU).ITU Table of International Call Sign Series
/ref>


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Internet Radio Licensing Internet radio