Hi everyone,
Hi everyone,
the valley 1640 Elkridge, MD checking in and I was looking into licensing for music and such. It is QUITE expensive haha. But does anyone run commercials on their part15 and make money? Just wondering. Stay in Touch!
-geoff
If you don't stream on the internet don't bother getting licensed by BMI or those other greedy people.
But you are allowed to air commercials. The FCC does NOT care what you put on the station or how you go about doing it so long as you comply with the rules.
We run PSA's and commercial for the local bar up the street. You can always uses free bumpers that are royalty free. Do a Google on Free Bumper music. You can get tracks 30 and 60 secs.
The FCC is "silent" on selling and airing commercials on Part 15 stations. Music licenses CAN be required on Part 15 if BMI, ASCAP or SESAC determine your are making a substantial income from the use of their music. If you stream the music over the internet and use copyrighted music or sound effects in commercials or production elements, you would also be required to pay licensing to Sound Exchange.
However, under the current DMCA copyright law you can also use companies like "Loud City" and "SWcast" to co-op the fees in concert with other streaming broadcasters. The fees could be as low as $25.00 a month.
Unlicensed or non-copyrighted production elements and sound effects are the way to go if you're not playing music.
And, in the interest of actually doing something creative with the microcosm of spectrum we have access to, why not broadcast content that is unavailable elsewhere?
Examples: Local musicians, writers, poets, old piano rolls and blues 78s from the Internet Archive, some of the many programing freatures promoted on this site.