I cheecked with our book keeper this morning when I got to work Our AM/FM combo, in a northern Minnesota town of about 15,000 people, paid a total of $33,000 for BMI, ASCAP and SESAC rights, and another $66 monthly for streaming. Amount is based mostly on your yearly revenue. I see BMI has a minimum of something like $588 a year. So if you sell nothing, you still need the rights.
Doesn't matter if you make money or not. If your intent is to broadcast to the public, it's a public performance and rights must be obtained.
BMI CAN because they legally CAN. And they can STOP you and SUE you if you don't have the rights for the music.
So you can't really say "what transmitter gives me the best range" then also say "but I'm not broadcasting to the public so I don't want to pay music rights".
I'll write a bit more later today -- on the air (at work, not my Part 15) right now.
TIB
Our LPFM pays BMI $339 for year 2015. We also a BMI license for live activities as well.
Thank you Tim for checking with your book keeper. I'll check in with the owners today and see what we actually pay. I want to say we do the flat rate base payment for all the royalty companies on the AM station. I incorrectly assumed this was the norm and that all stations just pay the base and call it good. $33,000 sounds about right on a high biller, I wouldn't be suprised if our FM stations didn't pay the same if not more. I'm trapped in my own little world of small town radio, so forgive me if I've gotten a bit ignorant on how things go on the larger scale. This small town has a long history of being a bit... backwards, so things done here are so strangely different its crazy. The Radio Station itself has a very interesting history on getting away with things, mainly from the old owner who was on the chair of the TAB. Extremely notable is our VERY unique case of being shortspaced thanks to some pull in D.C back in the 50s by the offending station. As a result, both stations are unable to move or do any upgrades.
I do appreciate your insight on the matter.
Question for Mighty: Are running 24/7 on shortwave?
@WDCX I'm not running 24/7 yet. Theres some mods I want to make first. I noticed the band is waking up, so I'll turn it on soon. I'll announce when I turn it on.
@Mighty: TNX. I will try to DX you. Probably best during daytime from your direction.
@ Mighty I'd like your Shortwave frequency too so I can try and DX it. I have been listening to WTWW on 5.085 Mhz Good Stuff. This guy Ted Randell plays anything from Classic Country, Oldies, Gospel. He even has the Desert After Midnight and Art Bell. It was a pleasure to listen to on the Grundig 450 DLX Radio. The Audio although AM and Mono was a joy to hear. Very nice bandwidth when you put the bandwidth on Wide. I listened from 11:00 till 3 AM teking a few breaks while scanning 3.873 Mhz and listening to AM Hams. They came in really nice and had a Tuesday net. I thought I heard Neil in there as one of the Hams sounded like him. Yes Shortwave from about 3-13 Mhz is waking up but anything after that is sort of dead for now. I'm still scanning 13.560 to see if I hear any part 15 Shortwave there. This is a great place to broadcast for part 15.
As far as Royalties for part 15 you all should know how I feel about that and the RIAA and their devil's who really keep the money for themselves and give the artists very little. I even know of some Blatant File Sharing Pirates who got a C&D order and even threatened lawsuit for Kazaa and guess what they didn't even take the time to reply to them and nothing happened. It may not be right but it is what it is. Part 15 yes they could try and sue, but better worry about the more bigger fish to fry. Plus I do pay for royalties for streaming and the company I work with is fighting against the RIAA and their whining about wanting MORE. The Radio group I am with also has OTA stations so if they go silent in protest and agree to not play ANY RIAA Music for 1 yr they would not sell any music for this Radio group who has helped my station also has some big OTA stations. So if they try that crap with me all I need to do is make a phone call and their gonna get BEAT like a read headed step child. No worries here I'm covered. and NO I wont tell you who I know but I'll say this its bigger than you know. My NDA prevents me from saying.
From what I understand by looking at the radionomy site they pay those companies and you pay by makeing them put ads in your radio. If I am mistaken please correct me 🙂
Radionomy is like Djc Media except they have a certain time on a clockwheel they want you to play a Ad Trigger file. They use Target Spot to target the ads by IP Address. Radionomy says they will pay you after you have so many ad impressions (Listeners who hear ads). Howeve many folks who have had thousands of listeners have not gotten paid. DJC Media has another approach where you join their network and yes you may have to pay for the server and StreamLicensing. You decide when to play the trigger files which uses Target Spot. You get enough ad impressions your license is FREE and still legal as they cover your Royalties. They also work with some folks who have On Air stations. They know too well the RIAA's tricks. But with that even in mind you can still make money on your Internet stream. The Aim of my station was not to MAKE MONEY to start, but due to the RIAA I had no choice but to play ads to pay their high price per listener per hour for a license to play/Promote the music that people buy due to hearing it on the Radio. So its like asking someone to do a favor for you and then turn around and charge them for doing that favor for you. Its like a dog who bites the hand of the master that feeds it. After a while that dog is put down. But yes there is a legal way to run an Internet Radio station eventually for FREE. Either through Radionomy which does force people to not have a song longer than 15 minutes in length. That kills Progressive Rock, Album Rock for songs like Genesis - Supper's Ready is 22 minutes long. Or how about some of those Yes songs. So as a Progressive Rocker I could not use them. You may be able to as long as your Top 40, Mainstream Rock and your songs ae like 5 minutes long and you pay close attention to that clockwheel and schedule those trigger files that plays audio just as a filler in case there is no ad available in that listeners area. Go with DJC Media's Ads Wizz program http://djcmedia.com tell them The Legacy sent you. Wes will treat you very well and get you started.
Yea I just want to get some music out there for people to lisen to and not really to make money :P. I do have a question tho after thinking about it. I use the radionomy to run my station so I am not broadcasting from my own PC I am letting them do it all. I am wondering if I stream my station from online to a AM transmitter or any other transmitter is it still legal since they are paying for all the lisenceing?
Thanks 😛
OK since they pay royalties for Streaming your legally allowed to stream from your PC as well to their server and run a show. As far as part 15 since your allowed to use it to MONITOR your station you could get around this by saying "I'm MONITORING my Internet station and have a friend in the neighborhood that does as well but even that is gray. Seriously I highly doubt the RIAA, Sound Exchange or ASCAP, BMI is gonna bother with your part 15 station. In fact Pandora wants to also own FM stations and they are fighting to abolish all requirements to PAY to play any music on the Radio since Radio is a promotional tool that Helps sales and should not be treated the same as file sharing or ON DEMAND streaming. Read up on this. The RIAA is getting into some Very Hot Water themselves for schemes that should have been deemed less than legal. They themselves have broke copyright laws and I can go into this someday when we have an entire website to dedicate to the hate I have for the RIAA and for good reason. I'll just say in short there was an RIAA training video that leaked into the public and it was interesting to note that the RIAA used a Trial version of a software to make the training packet. Illegal because that version was NOT TO BE USED FOR PUBLIC DESPLAY and furthermore broke the copyright rules for that software. You are going to sue others for copyright violations but your group has free raign to do as they wish. I doubt in any serious nature they will bother you unless you live in a police state near the RIAA or law school or firm. You live in CT DON'T RUN PART 15. OK I'm done with my rants and will say no more. I just won't be pushed into something like this because I doubt I even have 10 listeners at once to my part 15 station.
Ok and I’m sure since I will be broadcasting on AM not much will dig deep into me because 1. AM is a bit abandoned and 2. I am at max likely going to get 1 mile coverage max. If they do come knocking at my door ill just close down the on air broadcast and that will be that 😛
Still the only thing holding me back on the AM transmitter is the range. Doing some more reading I can get a 100% average range on the TH from people getting good range to only 300ft. I have heard someone saying to get a ground lift for the TH but that can break the Part 15 Certification. If I do get a ground lift for the outlet how far can it increase it? Also with a wire antenna since I am guessing you can replace or add one on it what would you recommend me adding and where should I get it? Would it be better for me to place the TH on the top floor or the bottom? I hear some people say height it better while others say to put in in your basement. Tho of you who are pros may I also how long did it take for getting a FCC radio license and how much did it cost?
Just a little option about the copyright thing. I think if people want their music to be known they should pay the radio stations to play it as if they are promoting their music and if people like it they would go out and buy it making more money for them 😛 (Just a option)
Thanks ;-P
Using a ground lift would likely reduce the signal, if the TH would even tune itself.
Also that would be called Payola, which is illegal, but not to us. So have at it!
Ok then I guess I wont do it if the single drops I just read up about it :P. So my last question that I see people talk about is, is it better to place high up like on a 2nd floor or underground such as a basement?
Also what attnna do you think I should get for it so I can reach .5 miles or more indoors 🙂
Thanks :-]
Ok then I guess I wont do it if the single drops I just read up about it :P. So my last question that I see people talk about is, is it better to place high up like on a 2nd floor or underground such as a basement?
Also what attnna do you think I should get for it so I can reach .5 miles or more indoors 🙂
Thanks :-]