Royalties - Canada?

[JJDJRadio]

Do broadcasters in canada have to pay royalties?

[purerockradio]

Yes, through a licence (which will be based on revenue and a bunch of other things) you must get a License to broadcast in Canada now thanks to Tariff 22. Our licensing is handled through SOCAN, and I suggest you contact SOCAN, as they will help you get the correct forms filled out and get the correct licensing rate for you. we pay yearly and the rate is evaluated based on a bunch of things including revenue, Canadian content and much more, but SOCAN will help you with that (its all legalese). SOCAN has affiliations with international rights organizations like ASCAP, BMI and SESAC, etc.

 

http://www.socan.ca

[CurtisMachek]

PureRock, if you don't mind me asking, how much is it that you end up paying yearly?

 

And does the SOCAN check your can-con, and your music logs?

[purerockradio]

Well, as I mentioned, each station or show will pay differently depending on their website, and I am not willing to get into our finances here, but since we make no profit at all, we pay the bare minimum. Cancon doesn't exist on the internet, there are no rules for Canadian Content or any content for that matter. Cancon is actually a CRTC rule, and has nothing to do with licensing or royalties. And as for checking Logs, they will check logs randomly, and you must keep proper logs of all you play so they are ready when they come calling, but it's not a matter of monthly or regular log reporting. I think they are still working on that aspect of the licensing model for Internet and Web related music services.

 

The law/tariff is still very new, so they will be a work in progress,. but there are rules and amounts written right into the tariff itself when it comes to what you will have to pay. The only issue is that is gets complicated, because it doesn't just come down to what you play, it comes down to who your web visitors are (where they come from), what and how much you sell through your site (you'll pay more for Music sales), and a few other things.

 

My suggestion is to contact SOCAN yourself like I did and ask them to work this all out for you. They calculated what my yearly royalty would be 9upo to a certain dollar amount) and anything I make beyond that will require recalculation.

 

The main thing is not to be scared of the whole thing and to make the move. If you don't make any money from the music, it is likely you will not pay very much. Most automation programs like SAM Broadcaster have very good Log collecting and reporting measures built right in to them as well. I don't remember how long, but they require you to keep all your logs going back a couple years at least and will call on them at anytime.

[CurtisMachek]

Thanks for the info.

 

As of today, I am officially a SOCAN licensee (it's nice dealing with locals, rather than the USA licensing, and still be legal for global listeners).

 

Same thing, I pay bare minimum.

 

I appreciate the info,

-Curtis

[end user]

Its been years since I closed down my station but do I have to be licensed in Canada if I play only creative commons music?

[Brutish Sailor]

I just wrote this big hopla on this that I lost while accidentally hitting the back space. HOWEVER, bottom line, the Evil 4 and the RIAA has no jurisdiction over creative commons IAW http://www.magnatunes.com, a label that signs artist under creative commons agreement. However, with that being said, you will need consent from the property owner of the intellectual works, and if you ask, you might want to phrase it in the text of " Permission to publicly distribute for entertainment purposes (radio)"

[end user]

After looking at some CC music sites seems as long as I transmit the music in a non commercial station I should be ok. The hardest part will be having to listen to all that music and weed out the good from bad other wise I'll have to dust off the old storage drive and just start streaming my old format and be pirate Arrrrg.

[Badger]

Hey there! First post to this fine site.

 

Canadian here also wanting to set up an internet radio station, and have to say, it's certainly not as simple a feat as it is in America. I was temporarily signed up with live365, but canceled after finding out through the forums, there, that streaming live from Canada isn't kosher, since live365 doesn't have any agreements with SOCAN. I sent SOCAN an email a few days ago asking for some help with figuring out how much a 10 listener station could cost me, but haven't heard back from them. I haven't set anything up, yet, as I'm hoping to hear from SOCAN first.

 

So I have two questions, if anyone can be kind enough to answer for me:

 

1. Are there any companies like live365 in Canada that simplifies licensing, here? I'm completely illiterate when it comes to legalese, so I couldn't even figure out the tariff 22c application form.

 

2. If I'm streaming from Canada to a U.S. shoutcast server, do I need to worry about U.S. licensing if I'm signed up with SOCAN?

 

Thanks so much for any help!