[NFCB] Important:RE: ye olde internet fees question

Mon May 5 11:26:25 PDT 2008

The information below applies only to commercial stations.
Noncommercial stations that are not CPB-qualified have to pay BMI, ASCAP
and SESAC licensing fees for streaming music in addition to the fees you
pay them for broadcasting music.

Rych was reading from a legal handout from the Community Radio
Conference that is on our website--I was pretty surprised to read it
since I hadn't heard about this deal, so I spoke to Melodie Virtue of
Garvey Schubert Barer--she who wrote the memo--and she confirmed that
the deal applies only to commercial stations.  

Sorry.

Ginny Z. Berson
Vice President and Director of Federation Services
National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB)
510 451-8200 ext. 305
1970 Broadway, Suite 1000
Oakland, CA 94612
www.nfcb.org

-----Original Message-----
From: nfcb-bounces at mailman.lmi.net [mailto:nfcb-bounces at mailman.lmi.net]
On Behalf Of Rych Withers
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 11:59 PM
To: 'Jeff Shaw'; nfcb
Subject: Re: [NFCB] ye olde internet fees question

However BMI and ASCAP's current over the air licenses generally allow
you to
stream your over the air signal at no additional cost, but you must
notify
them in writing when you start.
SESAC requires an additional fee for streaming and the license says you
must
report to them all song titles, artists, etc, but they are not asking
for
that at this time.
Some of this depends on whether you were grandfathered in under the old
license.

RIAA requires you pay a minimum $500 a year fee and additional costs if
you
average over 218 or so full time listeners each month. Commercial
broadcasters have to pay $.0014 per song per listener each month. You
also
must report songs played and how many listeners to each song for two
weeks
each quarter. You pay and file reports with their agent Soundexchange. 

You also must display in the player the song artist, title and label on
each
song you play according to the Digital Copyright Millennium Act.
There are also restrictions on how many songs off an album or by an
artist
you can play in a few hours, how long archives must be( 5 hour minimum,
with
FF and REW disabled) and how long they can stay up. You also can not
front
announce songs or take requests.   Some stations are ignoring the rules
at
their own risk. Whether some of these restrictions will be eased in
negotiations with NPR, CPB or NFCB is unknown, and who knows if any
agreements will be reached before the current licensing term is over
(2011).

You also will need to find someone who will host the bandwidth for your
streaming. There are friendly local ISPs who will often donate
bandwidth,
but also commercial outfits who will sell you bandwidth at so much per
gigabyte like Live365 and streamtheworld.

So far no one has figured out the story on whether podcasting is legal,
and
whether mechanical licensing is going to bite us in the ass. (Having
downloadable music in a show or podcasts) (I understand Library of
Congress
will eventually consider the Harry Fox Angency's request.)

John Crigler and staff sums much of this up at:
http://www.nfcb.org/conference/PDF/2008/ReferenceMemo-StreamingCopyright
Basi
cs.PDF

Rych Withers
KFCF, Fresno

-----Original Message-----
From: nfcb-bounces at mailman.lmi.net [mailto:nfcb-bounces at mailman.lmi.net]
On
Behalf Of Jeff Shaw
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 3:59 PM
To: nfcb
Subject: Re: [NFCB] ye olde internet fees question

Thanks Ginny- that is what I thought.

For those interested, my quick research showed the following.  Just
needed
ballpark estimates for web streaming- Sound Exchange:  500.00 minimum
ASCAP: 288.00 minimum
BMI: 299.00 minimum
Sesac: ~110.00 to 171.00

Jeff Shaw
kdrt-lp
davis, ca

Ginny Z. Berson wrote:
> The licensing fees that broadcasters pay to ASCAP, BMI and SESAC cover

> broadcasting only.  Additional fees must be paid for streaming.
> 
> Ginny Z. Berson
> Vice President and Director of Federation Services National Federation

> of Community Broadcasters (NFCB) 510 451-8200 ext. 305 1970 Broadway, 
> Suite 1000 Oakland, CA 94612 www.nfcb.org
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfcb-bounces at mailman.lmi.net 
> [mailto:nfcb-bounces at mailman.lmi.net]
> On Behalf Of Jeff Shaw
> Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 3:28 PM
> To: nfcb
> Subject: [NFCB] ye olde internet fees question
> 
> So, we are finally going to do some streaming.  A co-worker just found

> this, which is confusing me:
> 
> "For Internet radio stations that simulcast the signal of an 
> over-the-air broadcast station on a nonsubscription basis, fees for 
> Internet usage of the music licensed by ASCAP and BMI are covered by 
> the current broadcast licenses. However, the broadcast licenses cover 
> only the over-the-air programming which is simultaneously streamed on 
> the Internet. If a broadcaster is operating a "side channel" not being

> broadcast over-theair and that channel features music, a separate 
> Internet-only license must be obtained."
> 
> (from
> http://www.webcasters.org/publications/DWT%20-%20Internet%20Radio%20Ha
> nd
> out.pdf)
> 
> A quick interpretation of that is current "over-the-air" licenses from

> ASCAP, BMI, Sesac cover a simultaneous webstream.
> 
> My understanding however, is that you still need to obtain the 
> additional web site licenses from ASCAP, BMI, Sesac, in ADDITION to 
> the non-commercial broadcast licenses.
> 
> Any quick clarifications?   Much appreciated.
> 
> Jeff Shaw
> kdrt-lp
> davis, ca
> _______________________________________________
> NFCB mailing list
> NFCB at mailman.lmi.net
> http://mailman.lmi.net/mailman/listinfo/nfcb
> 

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