> If you webcast or post mixes on your own, however, you could be liable for > more money > than you will ever make in your entire life.
false. there is a "small webcaster" clause. i run a 24x7 audio webcast with as many as 1000 unique listeners a day but pay under $600/year to license broadcast rights for songs represented by ascap, bmi, AND sesac (which have recipcicol rights with many foreign organizations such as gema).. this is DIFFERENT from the right to broadcast the sound recordings, which are covered by a separate licensing fee payable to the US copyright office via soundexchange. this one is heftier, about $1k a year (if i remember correctly) -- but not wholly unreasonable. > The worst thing is none of this money gets back to indie artists, it goes to > TOP 40 acts, > or those who provide some kind of TV or movie soundtracks. also false... if independent artists choose to play the game of the Man then they, too, will get paid eventually. not a lot. but stations like mine report tracks played, and in turn, the artists that i am reporting will get paid for airplay... if they are a part of the game -- that is, a member of ascap or bmi, and also registered with soundexchange. now, i am fully aware that their system is not good enough to account for everything i am doing, and i would be unsurprised to learn that some of the money i am paying in is somehow going to britney spears. but there's not much i can do about it, except play their game.. the game _is_ all geared towards middlemen and Big Business.. but sadly you sort of have to play it if you want to be a broadcaster, and be able to push independent music and a non-corporate aesthetic. > erika >> erika.net freeform internet radio >>> www.erika.net >
