radio station licenses

From: Bob Stock <bstock[_at_]mindspring.com>
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1999 08:45:37 -0700

A discussion arose in one of the legal newsgroups about the licenses that are executed between performing rights organizations (like BMI and ASCAP) and radio stations (or night clubs) to play copyrighted works. See "Copyrights and Night Clubs" at misc.int-property.

The key question (for me) was whether those licenses expressly permit the incidental reproduction of a sound recording to facilitate the playing of the song on the radio (or in the night club). For example, in the old days -- and probably still at some radio stations -- a song might be copied from its original medium (LP or now CD) to a cartridge before it was played on the radio from that cartridge. More modernly, the same song might be copied from a CD to a computer hard drive and then played on the radio. Is such a reproduction permissible? I don't see any statutory authority for the reproduction. I wouldn't call it fair use. Do the license terms permit it? Is there an implied license to do it?

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Bob Stock <bstock[_at_]mindspring.com>
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/1206/

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Received on Sun Oct 17 1999 - 15:45:10 GMT