Got a reply from Re-sound about a hobby BETS-1 station! in Canada.
My reply was from Claire Copland(legal affairs)
NO....I repeat...NO license is needed for BETS-1 radio stations. Only commercial stations and busineses. For webcasting the fee is 25 dollars a year.
Also your info about a song being 50 years old, going into public domain is wrong.....that has been changed to 70 years after publication or 100 years after it was recorded!
I can supply proof by forwarding my email response to Artisan if interested.
So that with my response from Socan.....NO music license is needed in Canada for a BETS-1 hobby station!!!!
Mark
I posted in another thread that Harper in his last budget changed the copyright laws retroactively regarding both musical performances. I believe that performances that entered the public domain prior to 2015 (i.e., anything recorded prior to 1965 when the 50 year rule was still in effect) are still in the public domain, but I'm not positive about that (it's in the copyright wiki but I always take those with a grain of salt). Generally, however, you can't take something out of the public domain once it enters into it.
I suspect that that legal Council wasn't considering that you might want to broadcast songs that were recorded prior to 1965.
As for song copyrights, the TPP (which has NOT been ratified as of yet) extends ALL song copyrights to 70 years after the death of the last creator.
It would be nice if both SOCAN and ReSound would actually publish this information regarding BETS-1 stations, rather than seemingly making things up as they go along (and forcing each and every individual to find out for themselves).
And just to confuse matters further, don't forget about the CMRRA, which also licenses radio stations. They're concerned primarily about the reproduction of musical works, so for example, if you allow users to download a podcast which contained copyrighted material and store it on their device, they would be the ones to issue that license (this does not apply to a stream which is held in temporary storage).
I think based on Socan's response(no response at all and no knowledge of BETS-1), and Re-sound's response it's safe to say that a BETS-1 terrestrial radio station needs no music license in Canada, whether all your playlist is pre 1966 or not. Good thing, because the money wouldn't be the big deal....the having a log of what plays all the time would be....in fact probably impossible. My station just runs itself whether I am listening or not, while I'm sleeping etc. To keep a log would be the end of my hobby broadcasting days!
Mark