Streaming Media Servers

[Lithium]

After playing around with SMS9 so much in the last few months (mostly going insane over VBR files - which don't stream too well...) I've decided to bite the bullet and let it go public...ish.

 

However... I wondered just a few days ago if I can Is it illegal to broadcast ripped CD's over a network - where the files are only accessible via the stream?

 

Or am I ok since it's internal...

 

Recently we did have some guy in from a Broadcasting company for Media Students who dragged an over-expensive media-centre PC in and they made a short, 15 minute radio show... While the students were doing that, I spoke to the guy about sharing what they'd created...

 

The schools etc he'd visited said that they upload their original content to their site and if they use people's songs in their productions, they generally stay on the college network and are opened as files... but he also said that as long as the files aren't publically available beyond college networks... that it's fine...

 

so I'm pretty much at a loss of where I go now... I've just been using it for myself so far and the odd member of staff who ripped 8gig's or so to their personal area, or the 12gig roaming profiles

[limbo]

We did the national launch for a new piece of DJ software a couple of weeks ago, and one of the PR blokes who came along said that you can make any music available on your website without breaking copyright law as long as it was 64kpbs or less.

 

I could not believe this was true and have done a bit of searching to try and find evidence of it since but so far to no avail.

 

What I did find is that to do it legally you need two different licenses - one for performance to actually broadcast it and one referred to as a mechanical license which is the bit that lets you make the copy of the music in the first place in order to be able to broadcast it.

 

This Site offeres some pretty comprehensive advice both on the technical side and the legal side. Have a look in the webtech FAQ section.

[Andrew_C]

This Site offeres some pretty comprehensive advice both on the technical side and the legal side. Have a look in the webtech FAQ section.

But quite useless this side of the pond as the second paragraph clearly states:-

This answer is appropriate in the United States of America. The law in other countries will vary. I am not a lawyer and cannot give legal advice. I accept no responsibility for the consequences of following this advice. The law and the policies of the organizations involved may or may not have changed since this article was written. If you have serious legal questions please consult a lawyer!

[srochford]

http://www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk/playingbroadcastingonline/online/MusicServices/LOEL/Pages/LOEL.aspx might help - this is the license application for a "Limited Online Exploitation Licence" which looks about right (and it's only £100 per year) but it does talk about being available to the public so it might not be the right one!

 

I'd guess that making contact with MCPS/PRS would be a good starting point - I'm sure that you won't be the only school wanting to do something like this so I suspect they will have an answer.

[Lithium]

Thanks for everything suggested thus far... though I'm not entirely sure I'm going through anything correctly here.

 

I started out at the MCPS/PRS site... got bored because it seemed overly unsupportive of schools/colleges (directly) and went off across google.

 

I found another site, which I didn't bookmark, silly me, which after a while of suggesting you need some sort of Amateur Radio Broadcasting test for stuff, I got sent back to the MCPS/PRS site... but this time - to a useful section!

 

The license I think I need is issued by CEFM and PRS

 

http://www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/PPS%20Tariffs/CEFM-EE%202007-02%20Tariff-Notes.pdf

 

If anyone fancies a look and just checking I'm right on thinking that would cover me for at least the people which are part of MCPS/PRS...

 

I'm beginning to see why piracy is such a big thing and why people hate internet radio. It's so hard to find the info and do this legitimately