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Voice Over Training

5/10/2008

One of the obvious aspects of podcasting is using your voice. And using it properly. If you’re looking for some more information about how to improve your voice technique in your podcast, I’d suggest checking out the Voice Over Experts Podcast from Voices.com.

Audacity Updated

5/09/2008

The very popular among podcasters audio recording application, Audacity has received an update. Podcasting News has a full rundown of the changes, including many bug fixes. It is nice to see some interface fixes, too, as I’ve felt Audacity has always suffered on the UI side.

Got a Podcaster Birthday Coming Up?

2/14/2008

Don’t forget that I’ve put together the finest collection of gifts for your favorite podcasting friend, family member, neighbor, or stranger! This isn’t just a list for holiday gifts, but great to find something to buy for a birthday gift or something for yourself, too. Filled with books, hardware and more, the store is broken out into … Continue reading »

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Ryan Irelan, Editor - listen@podcastfreeamerica.com

L - ABC of Podcasting

by Ryan Irelan

L is for LICENSING

If you’re interested in starting a music podcast, you should be aware of some important laws that if followed will keep you out of legal trouble. As you may know from past litigation against companies like mp3.com and Napster, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is very actively persuing cases of illegal distribution or other use of copyrighted music. This also includes using copyrighted music in your podcasts without proper compensation to the artists and their labels. Did I just bum you out completely? Well, there are ways to have a music podcast that won’t get you in trouble, but it does take a little work.

Music and other copyrighted works have three different licensing pieces to them:

Sound Recording
Mechanical Reproduction
Musical works (or Performance)

The Collegiate Broadcasters, Inc. describes these rights thoroughly:

Musical works. Performance rights organizations (ASCAP, BMI and SESAC) handle copyright licenses for the performance of musical works, including their performance in a podcast. Separate licenses are necessary from each performance rights organization because each company represents different publishers of composers’ musical works.

Sound recordings. Copyright licenses for the playing (or “performance") of sound recordings historically have been handled directly with the owners of the works, usually record companies. (Over-the-air broadcasters are not required to obtain copyright licenses for playing sound recordings. They must, however, hold licenses for playing the underlying musical works.)
Under amendments to the Copyright Act in 1995 and 1999, a statutory license scheme was enacted for the digital transmission of musical works and sound recordings. However, the statutory licenses reflect the technology of the times. The 1995 legislation covered downloadable music files, such as the commercial sale from a web site of an MP3 file. The 1999 act reached webcasting and streaming, both noninteractive activities that involve the transmission of a sound recording, but not the distribution of a reproduction of it.

Reproduction. By contrast to webcasting, a podcast may include a reproduction of a sound recording. Podcasting is an interactive activity. It results in the transmission of a sound recording which is fixed and is accessible on demand by the user. The reproduction requires clearances or licenses - for the sound recording, and for the musical work. Although the performance rights societies offer licenses to cover the musical works in a podcast, no uniform or industry-wide licensing scheme has developed yet to cover the sound recording.

How’s that for a little primer on music copyright law? The thing is, understanding what you can and cannot do is extremely important. While the RIAA has not yet (as of this writing) sued a podcaster for illegal use of copyrighted music, I have it from good sources that they’ll wait until there’s enough to make a big case against a lot of people. Don’t be part it. Be sure you’re not violating copyright law.

What do you do now? Well, if you’re interested in playing music on your podcast that falls under these copyright licenses, then you’ll need to pay licensing for each song and each license type. Yes, it is a major headache and will cost you a lot of money. If you are still interested, you may want to read more about how to go about getting licensing or consult a lawyer.

Now, that being said, there are other ways to legally play music on your podcast.

The most popular means of playing music on podcasts is by using independant music that does not fall under the RIAA (the artist, the music and the recordings are not part of or owned by a record company belonging to the RIAA) and seeking permission directly from the artists.

IndieFeed, a service that provides the best indie music podcasts, offers up this advice to their podcasters:

ASK the ARTIST for PERMISSION for other uses, or you cannot use the content and you are putting yourself and your organization at legal risk. In many cases permission comes in exchange for verbal credit and a tie-back to their website. Be clear to explain to the artist the nature of the use, and the context of the broadcast, so that they understand what their music would be used to represent. Don’t be a weenie by cutting corners.

If you find an independant artist you want to play on your podcast, email the artist ahead of time and explain who you are, what your podcast and how you can promote their music. Explicitly ask for permission to play it on your podcast and agree to link to their website and announce their name and website on your podcast. For independant artists this is great (and free) publicity and I’m confident most will recognize that. Be nice and courteous and I’m sure you’ll get permission.

Magnatune, an online independant record label allows podcasters to play their music on podcasts in exchange for a verbal credit and a link back to the Magnatune website. They have a great roster of really talented artists, so you should definitely check out their catalog. You can learn more at Podcast our music!

Additional Reading:
Digital Millenium Copyright Act

This is part of the series ABC of Podcasting from Podcast Free America.

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