Questions and answers about copyright and the legality of internet radio
Please note that we are a hosting company and provide the technical capabilities for organizing online radio broadcasts. We do not grant copyrights to any works and do not have our own royalty-free music database. Internet radio owners are responsible for ensuring the legal distribution of copyrighted content and, if necessary, making royalties to copyright communities or relevant services. Below, you can learn about the basic concepts of legality and types of copyright. Our clients include radio stations from more than 20 countries, and each country has its own specific requirements. If you have any questions, please contact the copyright community in your country: RAO - Russia, UAASP - Ukraine, NCIS - Belarus, KazAK - Kazakhstan, PRS for music - England, GEMA - Germany, and others.
How to determine if a radio station is legal
Let's delve into this complex issue and provide examples of completely legal radio stations:- the radio owner is the author himself, broadcasts exclusively his own works and has all rights to the broadcast content
- the radio owner is a label or record company and broadcasts exclusively its own content
- the radio owner acquired licenses or rights to broadcast copyrighted works (on services or from authors)
- the radio owner pays fees to the authors' community for broadcasting the author's works
- the radio owner uses exclusively free music that does not require royalties (more details below)
- the radio owner does not broadcast publicly and uses legally acquired content only for his own personal use
This means that in most cases, the owner of any public radio station that broadcasts copyrighted works must pay royalties. A so-called broadcasting license is not required for internet radio, and registration as a media outlet is voluntary. However, this does not exempt the station from paying royalties. We recommend contacting the copyright community if you have any doubts about the legality of your radio station.
Public and Non-Public / Commercial and Non-Commercial
Previously , non-public and non-commercial internet radio stations with closed access for small groups of people or private events were considered legally permissible—without the need to pay royalties. These boundaries and permissible requirements are now very blurred and vary from country to country. It's safe to say that commercial public radio stations hosted and accessible to everyone, for example, in directories or on websites, do not fall into this category. The Civil Code also includes the concept of "fair use ," which exempts users from paying royalties. This may include non-commercial radio stations created for educational or cultural purposes, such as those operated by schools or cultural organizations. If your radio station is non-public and non-commercial, try checking with the copyright association in your country to determine whether it is exempt from paying royalties.Types of copyright, licenses, and a little about free music
Most popular works are already registered with various communities or services, meaning they aren't free, but they can be. Let's look at some examples of copyrights and distribution licenses:Public Domain - these works can be used in any way and anywhere
Creative Common BY - mandatory attribution, unlimited use (popular license)
Creative Common BY NC - requires attribution, but prohibits commercial use
There are undoubtedly other types of licenses, but these are the main ones that allow you to stream music for free and legally.
Public domain works are works without a stated authorship or released into the public domain without any requirements or licenses. This category also includes works with expired authorship. In most countries, copyright expires 70 years after the author's death. This means that works by authors who died before 1950 enter the public domain and generally require no royalties. For example, classical music or jazz, provided the above conditions are met.
Where to find free or subscription music
Royalty-free music. There are plenty of websites and services online offering free music or music with subscriptions.Use a search engine to find similar sites:
Freemusicarchive is a large database of free music, with over 150,000 pieces.
CCmixter is a large database of free music, with over 30,000 pieces.
Free music public domain - another site with free music for non-commercial use
Soundcloud - You can filter free music, read the terms of use
YouTube Audiolibrary - Read licenses and terms of use outside of YouTube
TuneTank - 2,000+ great music tracks in its free collection (read the terms)
Epidemicsound - Get access to high-quality music with an affordable subscription
Additionally , some general information on radio licensing (in English)
As a hosting company, we do not provide copyrights.
As a hosting company, we are not responsible for the media content broadcast by radio stations and do not grant broadcast rights to copyrighted works—this is the responsibility of the radio station owner. We are unable to monitor all radio stations for copyright infringement, nor can we verify the legality of broadcasting in a particular country, as each country handles copyright issues differently. Most radio stations broadcast all their media content directly, either live or via rebroadcast. Our clients include all types of radio stations: author-owned, personal, label-owned, AI-based radio, radio schools, programs/sections, podcasts, and, of course, FM stations. Our system and players automatically display the author and song title to ensure copyright infringement. Interestingly, authors themselves periodically contact us, asking to add their works to radio stations' rotations, even offering payment for this, but as a hosting company, we do not do this. As a rule, less popular authors are very interested in promoting their work and allow free distribution under a CC or non-CC license. Things are different with so-called pop music. Once again, if you have any questions, please first contact the copyright community in your country. If you are a copyright holder and have discovered copyright infringement by our clients, please click the "Copyright Holders" link at the bottom of our website.If you find any incorrect or outdated information, please let us know!