Canadian Licensing Association Proposes CDN2,400 Annual Podcasting Fee

This could be precedent setting for other countries, if the proposal passes: Tod Maffin reports thatSOCAN, the association which licences performance and communication of music in Canada, is proposing to charge non-profit podcasters CDN200 per month for the right to use commercial music in their podcasts.

SOCAN’s tariff application is currently before the Canadian Copyright Board, but it is willing to negotiate individual deals with podcasters that might be less than the proposed tariff before a ruling comes down. The full proposal is here.

Already, there’s a move to raise objection to this tariff …more details here.

This comes as the public broadcaster CBC is developing a weekly on-air program about the blogosphere and podcast community, using the voices of audio bloggers and podcasters.
Staci adds: Life can be a little more complicated for U.S. podcasters, as Sam Whitmore found when he went the licensing route to cover his Grateful Dead podcast, Closet Deadhead. At a minimum, three organizations are involved: ASCAP, performance licenses from the publishers/record companies) and a manufacturing license for the right to make a digital copy of a performance. He’s now paying ASCAP, BMI and in discussions with the Dead. A Warner Music exec told him in April that the policy “is still evolving.” An exec at the Harry Fox Agency, which licensers the manufacturing rights, said they didn’t have a policy yet. A Grateful Dead exec said the band is working on a policy.
This kind of confusion accounts for the popularity of “podsafe” music, performances made available under Creative Commons or other kinds of permission that allow reproduction and distribution without penalty. The result is a boom, or at least a boomlet, in music that might not otherwise garner attention beyond a small sector. Some more details.

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