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Can Mp3's be played on the air

B

billythekiddd09

I think my engineer smokes crack. Is it true that you can't play Mp3 files on the air? Some sort of fee if you do? Or you could be fined if your caught playing them. I know there are sound quality issues. But is it true about the copyrights?
 
If the MP3s were ill-begotten, there could definitely be problems for the station. However, say you put 20 of your songs from the music library into Windows Media Player, and aired them, you'd be fine to the best of my knowledge.
 
If your station is already paying ASCAP and BMI fees, you should be fine.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but what is the difference if you brought in your own CD or 45 to play?
 
Nobody has ever answered the question I posed almost a year ago regarding this. Since the station already pays the royalty fees, having a file-share program like napster or limewire or whatever should be fine...YOU are paying the fee...not the person you lifted if from. It falls on the person who shared it. Radio stations would be an exception to the rule of file-sharing...or one would think. Right?
 
A tech at Profit told me that it was illegal to play mp3's on the air. You must pay a fee to the creator and license holder of the Mp3 patent holder? hope that helps.
 
Tech at Profit must be smoking crack too...

Actually, just kidding, but you know there are goons from RIAA monitoring these boards...why don't someone chime in and shed some light on this subject?!?
 
Most if not all syndicated shows, ie American Top Forty, Rick Dees Weekly Top forty, House of Hair, Rick Jacksons Country Hall of Fame, etc are downloadable from the networks in mp3 format. In fact we download all but one of our syndicated shows from the networks mp3 servers. In fact they encourege it. The only show we cary that is not distibuted by MP3 is Raceing Country. They still send the cd's and no option to download the show. Not sure whey they don't have it on a server. I prefer downloading the shows as opposed to using the CD's You would think the folks at PRN (preformence Raceing Network) would make it available for MP3 download. When you don't get the show on disc until Thrusday afternoon and there is a problem with the cd it is a little late to have them send you another cd. Granted we have only had a problem with a Raceing Country CD twice in the three years We've run the show but it does happen. So in some cases useing mp3 is leagle and encoureged by the syndicator. As far as playing a song on the air from mp3, I would say as long as the song was aquired through a leagle site like I tunes or the current leagle version of NAPSTER I don't see anything wrong with that. Just my opinoin.
 
How can it make a difference what file format you use to playback a song? Vinyl, Cart, CD, Cassette, MP3, WAV? If you have an ASCAP and BMI license, you're covered. That's the way we pay for music.
 
I haven't heard about that ruling? I think you can play mp3's if you want too. That's how commercials are emailed around these days aren't they?
 
Anymore research done on this topic? I have heard there is copyright issues that come into play with Mp3 on the air???? Any truth to that fact. I heard the was a website that explained it, but I can't find it. help.
 
You CAN play them but why would you want to? They sound like ----. An MP3 is no match for a full WAVE file. If you play music that was run through a codec like MP3s are you are playing audio that is not the same as a CD. The computer geeks of the world (and iPod deciples) don't know the difference because most of them were not born during the time or 100% analog audio. When you squish an audio file you lose information(data) and when you shove it through one of today's digital audio processors you will get a grungier sound. Fact is, MP3s are not full audio files. They are bit-reduced. That is the reason they are used on file transfered audio. Storage is so cheap nowadays that there is no reason to scrunch your audio. Either rip it directly into your hard drive system as a WAV file or record it in as a WAV. That's a technical response to the initial post, I know. But I just thought I would add my .2 worth!
 
You can play any sound format on the air that you want. A wave certainly sounds better for music than an MP3, but there's no law that says you cannot play one. In fact on my system, we record our news net within the operating system and it plays back in MP3 format. What I think your Chief Engineer is talking about is taking music from share sites. That's a pretty gray area. But it's not the format that's in question. If you download an MP3 and convert it to a wave it's still a possibly illegally obtained piece of music. That subject is most likely a forum for lots of debate, but..there is no law that you cannot play an MP3 on the air.
 
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