Mike McKenna wrote:
So -- someone is going to take some private citizen to court -- because he or she "broadcasts" or Streams" his or her favorite radion station over the internet -- for no fee. Yes, it may be a viloation. But it would harm ASCAP, BMI and others MORE -- by taking private citizens to court. Would the general public be fined for singing "God Blees America" and "take me out to the balll game" as a "piublic preformance" at every ball game. Would they be required to pay a fine or fee before any fan could leave the stadium?? You failed toanswer my question. Can anyone just locate such a site?
The ballpark itself pays (and pays handsomely) to ASCAP/BMI for the rights to play music there, and you'd better believe the rights police would come after them if they didn't.
True, it's unlikely that anyone will come after an individual for running a truly private stream for their own enjoyment. But as soon as they start promoting it to the public (and yes, I found the Kingsradio/KZPO feed in about a second and a half on Google), all bets are off, especially if the station itself takes any kind of active role in promoting the existence of the feed.
The fact remains, we're talking about very, very small niches here. Even a private citizen with moderately deep pockets can't afford to support more than a couple of hundred listeners at a time. Start scaling up beyond that, and you're talking about real money. Broadcasting, whether traditional analog or some form of digital, scales up much better when you get past the thousand-listener stage.
s _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list IRCA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx