Why one licence is never enough
Every track you play carries two copyrights, and each is licensed by different people. SoundExchange puts it plainly: a musical recording embodies two distinct works, the musical work (the melody and lyrics the songwriters wrote) and the sound recording (that particular performance, usually owned by a label or the artist).
| What is being used | Who licenses it for US webcasting | How you get it |
|---|---|---|
| The song (composition) | Performing-rights organisations: BMI, ASCAP, SESAC, GMR | A licence from each body whose writers you play |
| The recording | Statutory licence, collected by SoundExchange | Notice of Use at the Copyright Office, then pay and report |
| Either, outside those routes | The rights owner directly | A direct licence you negotiate |
A performing-rights licence says nothing about recordings, and SoundExchange says nothing about songs. A station that has one and not the other is still only half covered.
Which performing-rights bodies you need depends on your playlist
Each body licenses only the works it represents, so the question is whose songs you will play. SESAC describes its digital licence as permission to perform SESAC-represented music; Global Music Rights says its blanket licence lets you play the shares of works it represents; BMI's licence for websites and apps covers the works in its own repertoire. None of them can license a song another body controls.
Note the word shares. Many songs have several writers, and those writers can belong to different bodies, so one track can need more than one licence. In practice (our reading, not a rule from any of them) a station with a broad commercial playlist will meet works from several catalogues; a station built on a narrow, known catalogue can check each title against the bodies' repertories (search tools at BMI, ASCAP and SESAC; GMR's catalogue on request) before deciding.
- BMI: its digital licence for websites and apps is usually written for one year and is priced from the gross revenue and streaming hours you forecast; check your agreement to see whether it renews by itself.
- ASCAP: licenses websites, apps and other digital services through its own online licensing portal.
- SESAC: its digital performance licence covers websites and other internet-connected platforms; the fees are set out in a schedule attached to the licence.
- GMR: a blanket licence for the works it represents; it will send its full catalogue on request.
Our royalty fees guide for internet broadcasters links to the BMI, ASCAP, SESAC and SoundExchange licensing pages and shows the schedules that are published, so you can budget from the source. GMR licenses directly through its own site.
The recordings: SoundExchange and the statutory licence
For a station that works like radio, where listeners cannot pick the next song, US law offers a statutory licence for the recordings instead of a deal with every label. According to SoundExchange, a noninteractive service streaming into the United States must either hold direct licences from the rights owners or operate under that statutory licence. SoundExchange collects the royalties and receives the reports; the rates and terms are set by the Copyright Royalty Judges, who published the webcasting rates for 2026 to 2030.
The step people miss is the first one. The licence starts with a Notice of Use filed with the Licensing Section of the Copyright Office, and the regulation (37 CFR 370.2) says it must be filed before your first digital transmission. The notice gives the service's full legal name, a street address, phone numbers, the website, which licences and transmission categories you will use, and the date you start. If any of that changes, an amended notice is due within 45 days. The Office charges a filing fee and, as SoundExchange notes, does not confirm receipt, so keep your own copy.
On-demand use is outside the statutory licence. SoundExchange states that interactive or on-demand services need direct licences from the copyright holder.
Rules your programming has to follow
The statutory licence is conditional, and the conditions are about how you schedule music. Section 114(d)(2) of the Copyright Act lists them in full; these are the ones a music station meets every day:
- Variety in any 3-hour window, per channel: no more than 3 tracks from one album (at most 2 in a row), and no more than 4 by the same featured artist or from one boxed set or compilation (at most 3 in a row). The Act calls this the sound recording performance complement.
- No advance song lists: you may not publish a schedule naming the specific recordings or albums you will play. Saying an artist will be featured at some unspecified time is allowed.
- Limits on replays and loops: an archived programme must be at least 5 hours long and not available for more than 2 weeks; a continuous loop must be at least 3 hours long; and a pre-announced show with a fixed running order may air only 3 times in 2 weeks (under an hour long) or 4 times (an hour or more).
- Show what is playing: the title, the album and the featured artist, as text, while the track plays and not before.
This is where automation earns its keep. On the Premium and Platinum plans, our Auto DJ applies the US webcasting play rules to its rotation and takes a song out by itself when its rights run out. Before you switch on anything that names upcoming songs or keeps shows for listeners to replay, check it against the list above.
Getting licensed, in order
- Decide who will hear you. If you would rather not take the US licences, our royalty fees page sets out the alternative: country limits in your radio panel, on every plan, that keep listeners in the United States out.
- Choose your SoundExchange category. Commercial and noncommercial webcasters have different terms; read the category pages before you file.
- File the Notice of Use with the Copyright Office before the first stream.
- Check your playlist against the BMI, ASCAP and SESAC repertory searches and the catalogue GMR sends on request, then apply to each body whose writers you play.
- Set up the rotation so the 3-hour variety rules and the now-playing text are handled from day one.
- Keep the paperwork in one place: upload the licences you hold to the panel and set the countries they cover.
- Put the reporting dates in your calendar before the first month closes.
What you report, and when
Reporting starts with your first month on air. For a commercial webcaster, SoundExchange's category page asks for:
- an annual minimum fee with its own statement, due by January 31 (a service that starts streaming on or after February 1 pays within 45 days after the end of the month in which it first streams);
- a monthly Statement of Account, the form that calculates what you owe, within 45 days of the month's end;
- a monthly Report of Use on the same schedule: a full census of every recording played, giving the track title, featured artist and ISRC (or the album and label when there is no ISRC), plus the actual total performances, where a performance is each time any part of a recording is played to one listener;
- Late payments, statements and reports draw a monthly late fee, so do not let a month slip.
Reports of Use go in as an electronic text file, preferably through SoundExchange's Licensee Direct portal; paper is not accepted. The performing-rights bodies ask for their own figures under their own licences, such as the revenue and streaming hours BMI prices from.
Here is the part we handle. Every Primcast radio plan, Free included, keeps a downloadable airplay log sealed day by day so it cannot be changed afterwards, and produces royalty reports: SoundExchange-style usage, layouts for ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, SOCAN, PRS, GEMA, SACEM and UCMR-ADA, cue sheets, listening hours by country and a completeness check. Each finished month is archived as a CSV. The money side is yours: revenue figures have to come from your own organisation. The full plan comparison is on our radio hosting page.
Streaming from outside the US
Everything above is US law. The statutory licence, the Notice of Use and SoundExchange's role come from the US Copyright Act, and they concern streams reaching listeners in the United States. Other countries license music through their own collecting societies, on their own terms, so check with the bodies in the country you broadcast from and in the countries your listeners are in. The report layouts in our panel for SOCAN, PRS, GEMA, SACEM and UCMR-ADA are there for that paperwork; they do not replace the licence itself.
Questions people ask
- If I hold a BMI or ASCAP licence, am I covered for the recordings too?
- No. Those bodies license the songwriters' side only. The recordings need the statutory licence (Notice of Use, then payments and reports through SoundExchange) or direct licences from the labels and artists.
- Does Primcast pay the royalties for my station?
- No. The licences are yours to arrange and the royalties are yours to pay. Hosting a stream is not a licence to play recordings. What our panel gives you is the record-keeping: the airplay log, royalty reports, your licences on file and country limits that follow them.
- Can I keep US listeners out instead of taking US licences?
- Our royalty fees page presents that as the alternative to getting licensed, and country limits for blocking the United States are in the radio panel on every plan. You would still need to deal with the licensing rules wherever your remaining listeners are.
- My station also publishes shows as podcasts. Does the statutory licence cover the music in them?
- SoundExchange states that the statutory licence does not apply to interactive or on-demand use, and a podcast episode is listened to on demand. Our general reading is that the recordings in podcast episodes need direct permission from their owners, since the statutory licence does not reach them. For the songs, check whether each performing-rights body's licence covers on-demand episodes, and ask a music lawyer before publishing music in a podcast. The talk itself is fine to publish through podcast hosting.
- What about music sold as royalty-free or production music?
- Read what the licence actually grants. You want it to cover public performance by internet streaming, for both the recording and the composition. If it does, and the provider owns both, that music can sit outside the arrangements above; if it is silent on either, ask before you air it.
- Is this legal advice?
- No. It is general information drawn from SoundExchange, the US Copyright Office, the Copyright Royalty Board and the performing-rights bodies' own pages. For your station's specific situation, ask those bodies or a lawyer who works in music licensing.