Music Royalties
<p>I am currently in the process of creating an online radio. We are almost done and ready to kick off. The radio is based on artists coming to us and sending/uploading their songs for them to be played on the radio. The last step before approving the song is a screen that asks them:</p>

<ul>
<li>to certify that they own all rights to their song;</li>
<li>to certify that we will not pay any royalties to them. </li>
</ul>

<p>We would like the radio to be accessible on the web, world-wide. Do we have to get a license with BMI, ASCAP, SACEM... even though we are not using their songs, and if we do we have the permission of the artist?</p>

<p>One thing that's important to understand is that you MAY have more than just the artist to deal with, in certain circumstances.  If the artist is on a label, it's very possible that the label, and a publisher, are also in the game.  If the artist is not the songwriter, then the songwriter, and her publisher, are also "in the game."</p>

<p>However, absent all that, where the artist/author actually owns all the rights to the song and the recording of the song...then your agreement with that artist/author supercedes anything with SESAC/BMI/ASCAP, etc.</p>

<p>In my previous life as a web-collaboration-based website admin, we had an agreement with our songwriters that granted a non-exclusive, year-long auto-re-upped agreement that the songs on our site were licensed.  If the author wanted the song taken down for whatever reason, we had a mechanism for that.  Songwriters retained all rights.  The so-called "standard" agreements with the performance rights societies is boilerplate default, which can be overridden by straight between-parties agreements.</p>

<p>Providing that you have permission of <strong>all</strong> the copyright holders then this is fine but ... a <strong>lot</strong> of people own copyright in a song:</p>

<ul>
<li>The composer has copyright in the music</li>
<li>The lyricist has copyright in the words</li>
<li>The performers (each and every one of them) has copyright in their performances</li>
<li>The sound technician has copyright in the arrangement</li>
<li>etc.</li>
</ul>

<p>Many of these copyrights will have been transferred by contract to other people within and without the original group like managers, studios, labels etc.</p>

<p><strong>Hire a lawyer and pay for good advice</strong></p>

copyright music statutory-license