Sound Recordings and Internet Licensing
If you want to use recorded music online, whether it is in a webcast, as background music or as a distributable file, you may need licenses from several organizations and companies. The licensing requirements also may vary depending on the proposed use. In general, here's how it works:
Musical Compositions
A license to perform a musical composition is required whenever the work is performed for the public. A performance is considered public when a song is performed in any place where a substantial number of people outside the "normal circle of family and social acquaintances" gather. So if you play your favorite CD in your dorm room while studying for the Bio mid-term, that performance would not be considered public. On the other hand, if you transmit a song over the radio, sing it in concert or provide it as streaming audio on a web site, that performance would fit the definition of a public performance and thus require a license.
Almost all copyrighted songs are administered and licensed by one of the following performance rights organizations that represent composers, songwriters and publishers:
ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers) -- for more information visit their Web site at www.ascap.com
BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.) -- for more information visit their Web site at www.bmi.com
SESAC -- for more information visit theirWeb site at www.sesac.com
If you plan to make copies of musical compositions, you need to get permission from another organization. The Harry Fox Agency coordinates licenses to reproduce and distribute musical compositions. For more information, visit their Web site at www.nmpa.org
Sound Recordings
- The copyright in the sound recording is typically owned by the record company that released the recording.
- Sound recording copyright ownershave a number of rights under current federal law, including the right to control the reproduction, distribution and various digital transmissions of their works. Therefore,
- Creating unauthorized music sites by copying sound recordings to a server and/or offering such recordings for download is a violation of copyright law.
- Making tapes or CDs of recordings downloaded from the Internet without permission from the copyright owner is a violation of copyright law.
- Sound recording owners also have digital performance rights which may be implicated by webcasts or interactive digital transmissions (such as Internet jukeboxes) of their works. The Recording Industry Association of America administers a special license for certain types of digital transmissions, such as webcasting. This license is called a "statutory license," and is an efficient way to license because it permits a webcaster to perform all of the sound recordings it wishes to perform without obtaining separate licenses from each copyright owner. To be eligible for the statutory license, a webcaster's service and programming must meet several criteria. Services that do not meet the criteria would need to obtain licenses directly from the recording companies. For more information about this license, please visit the webcasting FAQ at http://www.riaa.com.
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