Streaming without paying royalties?

[CaptainFirstReturns]

Anyone out there doing it or know of anyone who is? What are the odds of getting away with it?

 

[RadioMan203]

I've seen quite a few do it and getting away with it so far. It sort of tiffs me off as while I was going my streaming for 7 years I paid my required royalties (with both Live365 and directly for the one year I was independent). It also bugs me when I see streams that blatantly not adhere to DMCA rules and play multiple songs by one artist with regards to the rules or even stream without the required artist-title-album data. That's the tip off that they aren't even keeping records on what they are playing nor plan on reporting it

 

[CaptainFirstReturns]

Bill, sorry if I touched a nerve. It's not something I plan on doing, I was just curious. Okay, maybe I did consider it for a brief time. : ;D

 

[LowPayDJ]

For what I've seen, most do not pay royalties unless they are forced to by using streaming companies like Live 365. How can they? With the costs associated with streaming and the lack of sufficient income being generated, who can afford to pay the over inflated royalty rates that are now in place. Where are they supposed to come up with this money? Rates need to be in place that doesn’t penalize the small Internet broadcaster. Why is Internet Radio expected to pay more fees then Broadcast Radio? I personally believe that there needs to be a sliding scale on payments allowing the ones that make the most money to pay the most. In my opinion the RIAA is not needed. If a station can work out their own deals with ASCAP, BMI & SESAC, there is no need for the RIAA.

 

[RadioMan203]

Bill, sorry if I touched a nerve. It's not something I plan on doing, I was just curious. Okay, maybe I did consider it for a brief time. : ;D

Captain, sorry about the rant, but it just annoys me while people like you and me want to abide by the law, others blatantly disregard these rules. I could have been much more successful if I didn't have to pay royalties like them, but that's neither here nor there since I just shut down my stream last week after 7 years of being legal on Live365.

For what I've seen, most do not pay royalties unless they are forced to by using streaming companies like Live 365. How can they? With the costs associated with streaming and the lack of sufficient income being generated, who can afford to pay the over inflated royalty rates that are now in place. Where are they supposed to come up with this money? Rates need to be in place that doesn’t penalize the small Internet broadcaster. Why is Internet Radio expected to pay more fees then Broadcast Radio? I personally believe that there needs to be a sliding scale on payments allowing the ones that make the most money to pay the most. In my opinion the RIAA is not needed. If a station can work out their own deals with ASCAP, BMI & SESAC, there is no need for the RIAA.

I agree that there should be a sliding scale, especially if you're doing it as a hobby instead of trying to make it a full fledged business. It also boils down to the point if you can't afford it you shouldn't be doing it? That's just like if the FCC had enough manpower to nail all the pirates out there and impose the $10,000 fine usually dictated by the regulations.

At this rate the RIAA should go back to managing their equalizer curve for phonograph records and leave well enough alone! They have so many consumers upset no wonder there is music piracy and people aren't buying CDs anymore. I, for one, only buy vinyl now and restore it for my personal enjoyment for a variety of reasons - the top being the RIAA ain't gonna get another dime out of me for buying new music, but this rant is for another thread.

 

[Chuck]

At this rate the RIAA should go back to managing their equalizer curve for phonograph records and leave well enough alone! They have so many consumers upset no wonder there is music piracy and people aren't buying CDs anymore. I, for one, only buy vinyl now and restore it for my personal enjoyment for a variety of reasons - the top being the RIAA ain't gonna get another dime out of me for buying new music, but this rant is for another thread.

Hmmm.... Not long ago I was on the phone with Sound Exchange, trying to figure out why a check I’d sent them had not been cashed. The representative told me that it must have gotten lost in the clutter. It seems they are awfully busy. He allowed as to how they now were handling over 1500 (one thousand five hundred) accounts.

I nearly fell out of my chair. Shoutcast rates about 10,000 stations, but I suspect that list is only the tip of the iceberg. Does anyone know of a definitive list of stations? I'd be curious.

In any case if Sound Exchange has only managed to sign up 1500+ participating stations, they are not very effective at their task. Obviously, there are a lot of Internet broadcasters out there who are not paying them a dime.

 

[RadioMan203]

In any case if Sound Exchange has only managed to sign up 1500+ participating stations, they are not very effective at their task. Obviously, there are a lot of Internet broadcasters out there who are not paying them a dime.

It sounds like the FCC is doing a much better job of pirates compared to the RIAA and Clownexchange ... oops, SoundExchange

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Let me see if I have this right. Someone posted earlier that if he was paying ASCAP, BMI and SESAC, that should be enough. Why pay RIAA also?

I thought ASCAP, BMI and SESAC collected royalties on behalf of COMPOSERS which has been the fire drill as long as I can remember, but RIAA is collecting for ARTISTS, who never got a part of the royalties action in the past (except for the composer money when they sang their own songs on a recording).

Here is what one broadcaster told me. He does NOT have any SESAC music in his library. If you are streaming SESAC not only demands their royalty based on your revenue, but you must submit a LOG of all music played INCLUDING how many streamers were attached at the time each song of SESAC was played. Not average number of people on line during the hour or during the day, but if song A played at 11:08 past the hour, how many were on line then, and if song B play at 38:42 past the hour, how many were on line then. He said he might could afford the royalty, but he just could not live with the massive reporting requirements.

So how are the rest of you dealing with this issue?

 

[icycool7227]

Why did you shut down your stream?

Bill, sorry if I touched a nerve. It's not something I plan on doing, I was just curious. Okay, maybe I did consider it for a brief time. : ;D

Captain, sorry about the rant, but it just annoys me while people like you and me want to abide by the law, others blatantly disregard these rules. I could have been much more successful if I didn't have to pay royalties like them, but that's neither here nor there since I just shut down my stream last week after 7 years of being legal on Live365.

For what I've seen, most do not pay royalties unless they are forced to by using streaming companies like Live 365. How can they? With the costs associated with streaming and the lack of sufficient income being generated, who can afford to pay the over inflated royalty rates that are now in place. Where are they supposed to come up with this money? Rates need to be in place that doesn’t penalize the small Internet broadcaster. Why is Internet Radio expected to pay more fees then Broadcast Radio? I personally believe that there needs to be a sliding scale on payments allowing the ones that make the most money to pay the most. In my opinion the RIAA is not needed. If a station can work out their own deals with ASCAP, BMI & SESAC, there is no need for the RIAA.

I agree that there should be a sliding scale, especially if you're doing it as a hobby instead of trying to make it a full fledged business. It also boils down to the point if you can't afford it you shouldn't be doing it? That's just like if the FCC had enough manpower to nail all the pirates out there and impose the $10,000 fine usually dictated by the regulations.

At this rate the RIAA should go back to managing their equalizer curve for phonograph records and leave well enough alone! They have so many consumers upset no wonder there is music piracy and people aren't buying CDs anymore. I, for one, only buy vinyl now and restore it for my personal enjoyment for a variety of reasons - the top being the RIAA ain't gonna get another dime out of me for buying new music, but this rant is for another thread.

 

[RadioMan203]

Why did you shut down your stream?

For a few reasons. It was amounting to not much more than a costly hobby for one. Without a big bankroll it's hard to do streaming the the large scale to be successful. Not having a way to secure robust data lines in a relative rural area really put a crimp in my stream the last year with drops and lack of any self-healing recovery as far as the modems go. It just started to become too much trouble for the small listenership I had. Back when I was on iTunes I had well over 100,000 total listened hours per month. In a period of 18 months I saw that drop to just 6000 hours per month between data line issues and people who couldn't figure out how to find the stream once it went off iTunes ... even though the stream's name was the web URL location.

Internet radio may be the future, but the greed of the RIAA is going to kill all the small players in the arena.

 

[gunterm]

You would be surprised how many big networks do not pay royalties. .977 has paid the songwriter's royalties in the past (BMI ASCAP, etc) but has never paid soundexchange.