Music Licensing FAQs

1. All radio broadcasters are morally obligated and legally required to compensate copyright owners of the lyrics and notes of musical compositions (the musical works) that they broadcast. Musical compositions include incidental music (bumpers, backgrounds, intros, outros, etc) as well as feature music (music that is the principal focus of audience attention).

2. Most Catholic radio network programming includes musical compositions including EWTN network programming and Relevant Radio network programming. Catholic radio stations that broadcast network programming are responsible for obtaining the required musical composition licenses as the network program providers (EWTN, Ave Maria Radio, Catholic Answers, Relevant Radio, etc) typically do not directly broadcast the music.

3. Most musical composition copyright owners are represented by music rights organizations including ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR & UPM, each of which have music licensing options for their individual music repositories.

4. Stations that broadcast other programming, in addition to network programming, should consider the incidental music and feature music of such broadcasts and obtain the appropriate music composition licenses.

A music composition license is not required for broadcasting music that is: a) public domain (however music that has been re-composed / re-arranged / re-mixed and is sufficiently original, may require a license). b) royalty-free with permission to broadcast (however this music may include restrictions, and require reporting and attribution). c) directly licensed with permission to broadcast from the music composition/arrangement copyright owner. This may include music by a local musician that has sufficiently re-composed or re-arranged copyrighted music. d) from a purchased music CD with broadcast permission (music CD’s do not typically include such permission.) e) fair use music (several complex factors determine if certain music is fair use)

5. Radio broadcasters that have a unique stream/webcast of their station’s broadcasts are morally obligated and legally required to compensate the copyright owner of the musical performances (sound recordings) as well as the copyright owner of the musical compositions (musical works). US Copyright Law has designated Sound Exchange as the organization that licenses and pays collected royalties to the copyright owner of streamed music performances (sound recordings). Radio broadcasters, without a unique stream (ie providing only a link to a network stream) are not required to obtain a music performance (sound recording) license.

6. The Catholic Radio Association (CRA) offers expert assistance with determining which music licenses would be appropriate for your station’s broadcasting and streaming. CRA can also obtain discounted music licenses from ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR, UPM and Sound Exchange at discounted rates. For a consultation, contact CRA at 864-438-4801 or email [email protected]

This Guide is a simplified summary of some of the variations and complexities in music licensing for Catholic radio broadcasters and webcasters, and is not all inclusive nor to be considered as providing legal advice. Consultation with your attorney is recommended for your particular stations legal requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions on Music Licensing

What do the CRA discounted Non-Commercial Standard license and LPFM license cover? The CRA ASCAP, BMI, SESAC licenses cover all licensed music, including ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC libraries, for an entire calendar year. THe CRA UPM license covers all UPM music and also synchronizing and streaming UPM music.

How does the CRA rate compare to paying the license on my own? Generally the LPFM stations save 10% and non-commercial stations save 10% for population coverage of 250,000+ and non-comms with population coverage under 250,000 save 15%. Depending upon the number of stations participating, the cost of CRA UPM music licensing ranges from $100 to $500 per station.

What limitations are there, if any, to how much music we can play and when? There are no limitations on how much music can be played or when for LPFM who participate in this licensing discount agreement. However, non-comm standard talk stations have the following restrictions according to the definition of a “Talk Station”:

A Talk Station is a full power noncommercial radio station (i) whose programming content primarily consists of talk shows, news programs, sports, community affairs or religious sermons (or other non-music oriented programming); (ii) that performs Feature Music in less than 20% of its programming; and (iii) that performs music-oriented programming for no more than four programming hours during the hours from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM each Weekday, with no two hours of such programming occurring consecutively, with the exception of up to five weekdays per year between January 1 of a given year up to and including Thanksgiving day of that year.

Note: Non-comms have no restrictions between the day after Thanksgiving through December 31 of each year.

When I pay the CRA for music licensing, where does that money go? CRA pays the music licensing organizations (BMI, ASCAP, SESAC, GMR, UPM, Sound Exchange) for stations participating in the CRA music licensing discount programs. A small fee is reserved for CRA administration expenses.

If the money only goes to ASCAP, BMI and SESAC, how is it that I can play “other licensed music?” The non-commercial broadcaster or LPFM can play any music without a need to track or report how or if it is licensed. The onus is on ASCAP, BMI, & SESAC, not the broadcaster, to set aside a small amount of money to pay to “other licensed music,” as prescribed by the Copyright Royalty Board.

Do the fees stay the same from year to year? You will normally see small increases from year to year. However, every five years, the rates are renegotiated and published for another five-year term. You may see a larger bump in cost from the end of one five-year span to the beginning of another. CRA discount percentages are also negotiated at that time and subject to change every five years.

Do all CRA members have to purchase music licensing through CRA? No. Participation in the CRA music licensing discount programs is voluntary. However, stations benefit financially from purchasing from the CRA discount programs.

What if we operate a commercial station? No discount program for commercial music licensing is available through the CRA. This is mainly because commercial Catholic stations generally pay only the minimum fees as it is.

Does the CRA discounted music licensing cover our streamed content over the internet? Yes and No. The CRA UPM music license includes the right to stream broadcasts of UPM music. A streaming license from Sound Exchange is required to stream broadcasts that include other music. Additionally, ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR may also soon require webcasters to pay them in addition to SoundExchange. This is already required in theory but not enforced. For more information, contact us.

How much will it cost to pay SoundExchange for our stream? The annual cost is $1,050. For stations who exceed the ATH (aggregate tuning hour) threshold of 154,000 there are additional costs but none of the Catholic streams have come anywhere close to that threshold. Additionally, there are quarterly reporting requirements.

Why would we need to pay PROs and SoundExchange for the same licensed content? This is where things get interesting. The royalties paid for your over-the-air broadcast only go to composers’ royalties, not performers. The fees paid to SoundExchange only go to performers’ royalties, not composers. The additional, if currently theoretical, requirement to also pay the PROs for the webstream, is intended for the collection of additional royalties for composers.

I heard that we don’t need to pay SoundExchange if the licensed music on our stream is only incidental. What constitutes “Incidental,” use? Regulation 37 C.F.R. 370.4(b)(4)(iii) allows the use of “incidental performance” of copyrighted works, defined as a performance “that both: (A) Makes no more than incidental use of sound recordings including, but not limited to, brief musical transitions in and out of commercials or program segments, brief performances during news, talk and sports programming, brief background performances during disk jockey announcements, brief performances during commercials of sixty seconds or less in duration, or brief performances during sporting or other public events; and (B) Other than ambient music that is background at a public event, does not contain an entire sound recording and does not feature a particular sound recording of more than thirty seconds (as in the case of a sound recording used as a theme song).”Please review 37 C.F.R. 370.4(b)(4)(iii) for more information. Please note: this question of “incidental use,” pertains only to sound recordings used over the internet.

What do we need to know if we choose not to pay for ANY music license? This is a possibility and many broadcasters have chosen to go this route. Here are the steps you will need to take to determine if you can avoid all licensing costs:

1. Contact producers of all programming content you use to determine whether music used in production is entirely royalty-free with the right to broadcast.
2. Be sure to use only royalty free music in your own productions including PSAs, station IDs and anything else that is broadcast.
3. Be sure you have control over everything that is broadcast. Some possible tricky situations could include broadcasting a Mass which includes music, public events which are broadcast such as Papal Masses, World Youth Day events, March for Life, etc.
4. Be prepared to inform the music licensing organizations, repeatedly, that you are not airing their music. Even then, you may still very well continue to receive bills, notices and phone calls.
5. Understand that if something licensed “slips through,” and is broadcast, in the event that this content is recorded and reported, the fines are considerably more expensive than years’ worth of licensing fees.

If we do choose to purchase the full statutory broadcast license through the CRA discount, do we need to be CRA members? Yes, the discount is only available to CRA members. If you are not currently a member, please contact us for more information.