SLMC

luketemplar · Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Posts: 314 Location: United Kingdom

Bikey Bekkers forwarded me this info for UK residents re: PPL licence for small scale webcasters.
Good news is - it covers the owner of the stream for any copyright material broadcast. (But you also need to get another licence as well as explained below)
Bad news is - it doesn't cover listeners in America.
More info on PPL is here:
PPL
1 Upper James Street, London W1F 9DE
T +44 (0)20 7534 1257 / F +44 (0)20 7534 1111
iestyn.david@ppluk.com
www.ppluk.com / www.vpluk.com
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Part I: Internet Radio Frequently Asked Questions

All terms in Italics are defined in more detail in the attached Glossary.

1. What is PPL and what does it do?

Phonographic Performance Ltd is the UK licensing and collecting society for record companies and performers. As well as licensing pubs, clubs and any sites where Sound Recordings are performed publicly, PPL licenses radio stations, TV stations and other broadcasters that use Sound Recordings in their programmes. The licence fees that are collected are then distributed to the rightful owners of the Sound Recording copyright (usually the record company responsible for creating the recording) and also all of the artists and musicians featured on the recording.

2. Why do I need a PPL Webcasting licence?

If an Internet Radio Service utilises any Sound Recordings, whether full tracks or short clips, then you need permission from those people that hold the copyright of each individual Sound Recording. Given the sheer number of record companies in the UK alone, it would be an enormous administrative burden if you had to approach each and every record company for a licence every time you wanted to use a Sound Recording. PPL therefore administers the rights for Internet Radio Services on behalf of virtually all record companies in the UK. As such, it is able to grant ‘blanket’ Webcasting licences to Internet Radio Services for the use of Sound Recordings.

3. I’ve heard that I may also need an MCPS/PRS licence. What is MCPS/PRS and why would I need a separate licence from them?

MCPS/PRS license and administer the rights of songs (i.e. the music and lyrics) on behalf of music publishers and composers. If you are broadcasting a song that is in copyright, you will need an MCPS/PRS licence. The monies collected are accounted back to the publishers and writers of the song. This licence is required in addition to a PPL licence.

The difference between the two licences is more clearly illustrated when the writer is a different person from the artist. For example, if you were to broadcast the Jimi Hendrix recording of the Bob Dylan song All Along the Watchtower, then the respective Webcasting licences would relate to the following rights:

PPL: This licence would be on behalf of the UK record company that controls the rights to the Jimi Hendrix recording of the song.

MCPS/PRS: This licence would be on behalf of the UK publisher that controls the rights to the Bob Dylan song.

Even if the writer and artist are one and the same, the rights contained within the song itself and the recording of the song remain separate, so you will still require each type of licence.

For more information on the MCPS/PRS Webcasting licence,

please contact their Online Licensing Team on 020 7306 4991 or

e-mail: onlinelicensing@mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk

4. What rights will the PPL Webcasting licence grant my Internet Radio Service?

Under the licence you will be granted the right to include any Sound Recording in the PPL repertoire in your Internet Radio Service. The Internet Radio Service must be streamed, non-interactive and non-downloadable.

For an additional fee you will also be granted the right to dub Sound Recordings onto a Central Database and to retain copies of those Sound Recordings on the Central Database for the purpose of Webcasting.

5. What won’t the PPL Webcasting licence cover?

The PPL Small Webcaster and PPL Standard Webcaster licences do not cover the following services or activities:

(a) Interactive services such as those where users can rate tracks or artists to influence the frequency or order in which they are performed.

(b) Services that allow users to skip, pause or move forwards / backwards during a programme.

(c) Transmission of the Service on closed networks or to mobile phone networks.

(d) Services offering Archive Programmes that the user may playback on demand.

(e) Services that offer the download of programmes or files containing any part of any Sound Recordings. This includes Podcasting.

(f) The use of Sound Recordings in Services to advertise or endorse products.

(g) The transmission of Sound Recordings edited or synched to visuals.

(h) The public performance of Sound Recordings in bars, clubs, shops etc.

A more extensive list of restrictions and other important provisions is provided in the Webcasting licence itself. If you require a licence for any of the above rights or services, please contact PPL to discuss your needs and we will be happy to advise you as to how you should proceed.

If you are proposing to offer an Internet Radio service similar to that described in (a), (b) or (c) above, please contact PPL regarding the Interactive Webcasters licence.

6. Are there any restrictions on the use of Sound Recordings in an Internet Radio Service?

The following basic operating terms and conditions apply to all Internet Radio Services:

(a) Distinct programmes or pre-programmed content (such as sound recordings being provided by a playout server) cannot be repeated or ‘looped’ within a 3 hour time period.

(b) No advance information shall be given (either via the website or announced through the service) as to the specific songs that will be played in the future. Non-specific details of artists being played in the future can be provided as well as general information on playlists.

(c) No ‘shuffle’ function allowing random playback of music may be offered.

(d) In any given 3 hour period of Webcasting there shall be:

(i) No more than 3 songs from a particular album

(ii) No more than 2 songs from a particular album consecutively

(iii) No more than 4 songs by one particular artist

(iv) No more than 3 songs by one particular artist consecutively

(e) No unauthorised recordings (inc. bootlegs) shall be knowingly transmitted.

(f) The licensee may not edit, re-mix or change any Sound Recordings.

A more extensive list of restrictions and other important provisions is provided in the PPL licence itself.

7. How much does a PPL Webcasting licence cost?

All Internet Radio Services are required to pay royalties for all of the music that they stream to their users. The cost of a licence is therefore dependent on the amount of music you play, the amount of users you have and the length of time that each user streams the Service. The royalty rates payable are the same for all Services no matter how large or small and regardless of whether they are generating any income or not.

The cost of streaming a single Sound Recording to a single user in the UK is currently £0.000538 (0.0538 pence). So if you were to stream 14 Sound Recordings per hour to one user you would expect to pay a royalty fee of £0.00753 (0.75 pence). PPL licences require Internet Radio Services to pay an advance against the likely royalties they will generate. The level of this advance will be based upon the exact nature of your service and the anticipated royalties it will generate.

If during the production or broadcasting of your Internet Radio Service you dub Sound Recordings onto a Central Database, than you will also need to license dubbing rights from PPL. For example, these rights would be required for copying CDs or MP3s onto any kind of digital storage device, such as a server or a PC. PPL can incorporate the necessary dubbing rights into a Webcasting licence. An additional fee will be levied for these rights, which will be calculated as an additional 15% of the total royalty fees generated.

For more detailed information on specific licence costs and tariffs please refer to Part II of this document.

8. What are mechanical rights and do I need a licence for them?

MCPS/PRS are in a position to licence you the separate right to make ‘mechanical’ copies of the underlying songs contained within a Sound Recording. You will need both of these licences in place before any kind of digital copies can be made. Please contact the MCPS/PRS for further information on their licence.

9. Which territories can I stream my service to under the Webcasting licence?

Given that most UK Internet Radio stations are accessible internationally, PPL has entered into a number of Webcasting Reciprocal Agreements with the collection societies in other countries that represent record companies and performers locally. Amongst other things this means that PPL is able to license the streaming of Sound Recordings to those territories that have signed up to these agreements. The current list of countries that we are able to license on behalf of are as follows:

Argentina

Australia

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Costa Rica

Czech Republic

Denmark

Dominican Rep

Ecuador

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Guatemala

Hong Kong

Hungary Iceland

Ireland

Italy

Malaysia

Mexico

Netherlands

New Zealand

Norway

Panama

Paraguay

Peru

Poland

Portugal

Singapore

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

Thailand

Uruguay

Further countries are expected to sign up these agreements in the future and as and when they do our licence will be extended to cover them as well. An up to date list of countries can be found on the PPL website (www.ppluk.com).

Should your Service stream to users in any of the above territories, PPL will have to account the necessary royalties back to the collection societies in those territories, who will then pass the monies on to the relevant record companies and performers locally.

10. What are the administrative requirements for a Webcasting licence?

If PPL is in a position to offer you a Webcasting licence for your Service you will be required to comply with a number of accounting and reporting procedures.

In order to calculate the royalties that your Service has generated, we will need you to be able to provide us with details of the total amount of streaming that has taken place. We may also require details of the territories to which these streams have been made (i.e. the country where the user is resident).

You may also be required on occasion to provide details of the Sound Recordings used within your Service. This information must be submitted to PPL in the form of a Programme Report. Similarly, if you are granted dubbing rights, you will need to keep a detailed log of all Sound Recordings that have been dubbed onto a Central Database in the form of a Dubbing Report.

Under the terms of the PPL Small Webcaster licence the above reports will only be required upon request. However, it is important that you take the reporting requirements into consideration when launching your service in order to ensure that you are easily able to provide PPL with this information if so required.

PART II: PPL Small Webcasters Licence Fees

& Reporting Requirements

This licence is intended for Small Webcasters that stream a non-interactive radio service through the Internet, whose annual revenue for such a service does not exceed £5,000, and whose annual total streaming does not exceed the streaming limit of 270,000 tracks.

Licence Fees

All Internet Radio services are required to pay royalties for all of the music that they stream to their users. The licence fees for Small Webcasters are as follows:

(a) £145.26 as a non-refundable advance against Webcasting royalties in respect of each channel in the service

(b) £21.79 as a non-refundable advance against Dubbing royalties in respect of each channel in the service

The current UK rate for streaming sound recordings is £0.000538 per track streamed, which under the terms of the licence equates to permission for an annual streaming limit of 270,000 tracks.

The following table illustrates the number of streaming hours permitted according to the average number of Sound Recordings played per hour. This table should give an indication as to how many listener hours is licensed under the basic terms of the Small Webcaster licence.

Average Number of Sound Recordings Played Per Hour Equivalent Number of Listener Hours
Day Week Month Year
15 49 346 1,500 18,000
14 53 371 1,607 19,286
13 57 399 1,731 20,769
12 62 433 1,875 22,500
11 67 472 2,045 24,545
10 74 519 2,250 27,000
9 82 577 2,500 30,000
8 92 649 2,813 33,750
7 106 742 3,214 38,571
6 123 865 3,750 45,000
5 148 1,038 4,500 54,000
4 185 1,298 5,625 67,500
3 247 1,731 7,500 90,000
2 370 2,596 11,250 135,000
1 740 5,192 22,500 270,000

The duration of the Small Webcasters licence will be 1st January to 31st December. Fees for the first year of the licence will be pro-rated according to the contract commencement date, and the total number of tracks permitted for streaming will also be pro-rated accordingly.

Streaming Reporting

Upon request by PPL, all licensees will need to provide the following information

(a) A Streaming Report detailing the total number of Streaming Hours and the average number of tracks played per hour for the given period. Information relating to this requirement should be available from the service’s streaming provider.

(b) A Programme Report detailing all of the Sound Recordings used during a given day’s programming.

(c) A Territory Report detailing the countries to which the service has been streamed during the given period (the exact make up of which to be agreed with PPL). Information relating to this requirement should be available from the service’s streaming provider.

(d) A Dubbing Report detailing all of the Sound Recordings dubbed on a Central Database (such as a server or PC).
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Zaphod Theas · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Posts: 28 Location: UK

Hey thanks for the info Luke!

Very shortsighted of them to issue a licence that is region specific though - what do we do, say in mic "hey if you're in the USA please turn your speakers off now!" ??
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