Question...

[boondocksaint037]

I'm a music director at a local college station. Is anyone aware of an FCC rule about not being able to play the same band twice in an hour? Someone on our staff claims that stations that also webcast aren't allowed to do that... Any truth to it?

Thanks

 

[MassMusicMan]

Without knowing a thing about the specifics of the FCC's frivoloties, er, regulations, I'd say said staffer is misinformed. Look at the music logs of Top 40 stations, for example. You'll frequently see short artist seperation. This isn't Canada. You can pretty much play whatever you choose.

 

[odomski]

I have never heard of any such silly FCC regulation. If this regulation was true, then why would stations get away with such gimmicks as Double Shot Tuesday or Triple Play Thursday or whatever? For example, WHJY in Providence has their Double Shot Tuesday each week...where they play two songs in a row by the same band and/or singer.

 

[Varulven]

ah, a sense of humor question on a Sunday night.

No, there is no such law.

There was a Program Director in Boston - recently fired - who would only allow a band to get played twice in an hour if they delivered 25 copies of their disc to his office, formerly on Boylston St.

If the FCC didn't enforce the Payola laws making that a criminal offense, they certainly could care less if you played the Partridge Family all day and all of the night.

 

[cambridge]

Yes and no.

For your on-air (FM) program, there are no rules applying to musical content like that. As long as you have the blanket licenses (ASCAP/BMI/SESAC) to play copyrighted songs, you can play an entire album on the air - and stations occasionally will.

Your webcast, however, is regulated by the DMCA (Digital Music Copyright Act), which does impose limits like the ones you mention. I forget the details, but I believe you're limited to 3 songs by an artist in a 3-hour period, and limited to 2 songs in a row at one time. Maybe someone else can comment on the specific rules. But this means that if you're simulcasting your FM programming onto the web, your on-air programming will need to be within the rules specified in the DMCA.

 

[Neggy]

Cambridge who posted right above me here, is right on the money as far as pointing you to the DMCA.

Unless you are generating huge web traffic an occasional mistake of palying more than the alloted spins shouldn't get you in trouble.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

DMCA (Digital Music Copyright Act)

That would be the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

I forget the details, but I believe you're limited to 3 songs by an artist in a 3-hour period, and limited to 2 songs in a row at one time.

You can't do that two-songs-in-a-row by the same artist either. Also, you cannot pre-promote what song is coming up, although you can pre-promote the artist.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

At both music stations I've been on which also stream on the web, this is what I've been told are the DMCA restrictions:

* No more than four songs by the same artist or group within any three-hour period, and the fourth must be separated by the first three by a song by a different artist or group.

* No more than three tracks from the same album or compilation within any three-hour period, and the third must be separated from the first two by a track from a different album or compilation.

I've never been told that playing two consecutive songs by the same artist or group is not permitted. I was told that no more than three consecutively is not permitted. If it was only two, then many commercial stations which also stream and play "three-fer" features would be in violation, such as WROR's morning "Beatle Break", which is three Beatles songs back-to-back. If I remember correctly, the WROR "Beatle Break" used to be four Beatles songs, but WROR cut it down to three, and I'm guessing they may have done that to comply with the DMCA after they began streaming.

Classic Rock WMLL "The Mill" 96.5 Manchester, NH does an evening "Box Set" three-fer artist feature as well, which also used to be more before they started streaming. WZLX plays more in their evening "Box Set" feature, but they can because they don't stream.

I do know of one streaming commercial outlying greater Boston area FM station which I hear frequently violate the DMCA.

Also, I wonder how WHRB at Harvard now gets away with doing their bi-annual "orgy" periods, devoting many hours, or even many days, to special programs devoted to certain artists or groups. I haven't checked, but I'm not aware of them shutting off their stream during their "orgy" periods.