SESAC Radio Station Licensing
If you're running an internet radio station of any kind and have gotten any of your music from CD, it's critical that you have a SESAC license from SoundExchange.com.
Here's the situation. When you play music from a CD - say a song from Aretha Franklin - on one hand you owe money to the songwriter. You pay that to ASCAP. On the other hand, though, you are playing that music from an original master made by a CD / recording company. You have to pay them TOO even if you have long since ripped that CD. The group that represents the recording companies is SESAC.
Here's the really annoying part. An annual license to ASCAP is about $300/year or more, depending on the size of your radio station. You might balk at that, but that is going to the people who wrote the songs. So far so good. If you now go to SESAC, you are going to owe SESAC an additional **$500** just because they put the song onto the CD.
That could mean, if you have a small internet radio station with only 1-2 listeners a day, that you are literally paying $2/song for a ONE TIME USE of that song. That's not even counting what it cost you to buy the CD in the first place.
If you ignore paying these fees, you could be setting yourself up for tens of thousands of dollars in legal penalties for copyright infringement.
While I am all for giving authors their fair share, I think to charge an ADDITIONAL $500 every single year as a "base rate" is completely outrageous given the web radio world. The floor should be MUCH lower for small internet radio stations. If you agree, write your lesiglator and let's find a way to get this horrific situation remedied.
This article needs to be replaced as soon as possible.
This article needs to be replaced as soon as possible.
This article needs to be replaced as soon as possible.
This article needs to be replaced as soon as possible.
This article needs to be replaced as soon as possible.
This article needs to be replaced as soon as possible.
This article needs to be replaced as soon as possible.
Here's the situation. When you play music from a CD - say a song from Aretha Franklin - on one hand you owe money to the songwriter. You pay that to ASCAP. On the other hand, though, you are playing that music from an original master made by a CD / recording company. You have to pay them TOO even if you have long since ripped that CD. The group that represents the recording companies is SESAC.
Here's the really annoying part. An annual license to ASCAP is about $300/year or more, depending on the size of your radio station. You might balk at that, but that is going to the people who wrote the songs. So far so good. If you now go to SESAC, you are going to owe SESAC an additional **$500** just because they put the song onto the CD.
That could mean, if you have a small internet radio station with only 1-2 listeners a day, that you are literally paying $2/song for a ONE TIME USE of that song. That's not even counting what it cost you to buy the CD in the first place.
If you ignore paying these fees, you could be setting yourself up for tens of thousands of dollars in legal penalties for copyright infringement.
While I am all for giving authors their fair share, I think to charge an ADDITIONAL $500 every single year as a "base rate" is completely outrageous given the web radio world. The floor should be MUCH lower for small internet radio stations. If you agree, write your lesiglator and let's find a way to get this horrific situation remedied.
This article needs to be replaced as soon as possible.
This article needs to be replaced as soon as possible.
This article needs to be replaced as soon as possible.
This article needs to be replaced as soon as possible.
This article needs to be replaced as soon as possible.
This article needs to be replaced as soon as possible.
This article needs to be replaced as soon as possible.
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