In the simple world "Part 15" is strictly a wireless 'over-the-air' form of low power broadcasting according to FCC technical rules. But in the sticky, complex, real world many smallish radio stations also enjoy streaming their programming online as a way of being heard all over the world. Online streaming opens the door on being licensed to program copyrighted music, with the threat of heavy financial penalties for risking the use of such music without permission. The following video does a nice job of explaining the situation:
Music Licensing According to the Online Radio Dude
When asked why I don't stream?, this video explains it. All to get maybe one listener as you are lost in the vastness, one tree in a forest. Listeners need an "app" you have to pay data for.
Radio is free. None of this needed. Insane, as bad as trying to get a broadcast license.
But what if it is like my other post where a song is all AI, synthetically generated and written by a computer, not a person, not performed by a real band, or sung by real singers?
@ Mark Whoa! That's the question of the day! Who gets paid for AI generated music?
What if you generate all your own music... oh, wait,... in that case you could give yourself permission, but some law firm could sue you anyway and you'd have to spend $29,000 to defend yourself.
And to bring into it a concern of mine, how dangerous is it to stream non-copyrighted royalty free music? Again, the music royalty mafia could put you out of business by claiming that you are stealing licensed music.
The old adage 'the truth will set you free' might not mean anything if you are under arrest because of it.
What are we supposed to do?
Here's what I'm getting to this time...
There is a very high quality 1-hour news program available free five-days a week for non-commercial radio stations. Democracy Now with journalist Amy Goodman and her staff of top-notch reporters is heard on many public radio stations. But the news segments are buffered by brief musical interludes chosen from copyrighted music sources and although only a minute or less of each piece is used, can it be safely carried by our non-commercial radio streams?
One could argue that such use qualifies as 'Fair Use', a not-so-simple legal doctrine that permits free-use of music under certain conditions, but here again it's you against the system and in this regard the 'Fair Use' mechanism offers no guaranteed protection for those who claim to be protected by it. From what I've determined the whole concept of 'Fair Use' fails to provide the security intended by its existence.
Of course my suspicions cannot be taken as legal advice, but neither can a lawyer's opinion, given the experience that many lawyers are badly informed. Even court findings are often wrong. Civilization is hanging by a thread and the looming extinction is actually hopeful.