Acquiring Content (music) for an Internet Radio Station

Hi all,

I'm seriously interested in setting up an internet radio station, but I'm at the very beginning of the idea/process and have had a difficult time getting information on ways in which to acquire the music that I would like to broadcast. I hope this question isn't too silly. Short of just buying the music from retail distributors in downloadable or CD formats, what other avenues are open to me? How do most radio stations get their content? Do I have to pay for the acquisition of the songs in order to play them (aside from the fees paid to BMI etc for the rights to broadcast them)?

And despite my username, I am quite serious about my question. Thanks for any and all answers, no matter how oblique or short.

You can freely broadcast copyright free music on your station without a license. Talking on the radio is also free of course.

Maybe some of our other users have some info on acquiring music for their stations ? :

Hi,
Popular music content is gained from your own music collection, buying CD albums/singles, or buying MP3 formats of the songs and of course promotional CD's direct from record labels, we have done all the above, of course direct contact with artists, management, labels and all that helps.

The best free options are 1) to contact record companies direct and get your self listed on their internal promotional list, 2) in some cases they will not allow this and you may need to go to the company said label uses to distribute their material, i would advise not subscription based ones but direct distribution companies that work directly with the record label/s, CD Pool and the like are OK but you are limited to the versions of a track and remixes, of course if you receive the original promotional CD you will have EVERY mix available of a song on a CD.

Basically it is a mixture of everything.


Regards,
Juan

Juan,

Thanks for the response. Very helpful.

Is it also acceptable to request that listeners of my station (who are interested) send me music that I can play? Obviously I would have to have knowledge of the source/ownership of the music and would need to pay the appropriate fees/licensing. Is this accepted practice?

surelyUjest

Hi,
Yes, i can't see why there would be a problem with this, this can be done, keep an eye on what they request and of course where the files are from, if it is a cover version of a song make sure it is a legal one and not one created by a bedroom DJ with no permission from original artist, i do this a different way for my station.

I simply allow the users to send a request notification via the website to "add" a song to the playlist or "remove" a song from the playlist (remove notifications done by numbers received, add notifications done instantly), so if listeners would like to have a song they like added to our playlist they can send a request to us and we will add it, of course we search for the song so our way is different to the way you're looking to go but gives you an idea.

Regards,
Juan

Juan,

I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions thoughtfully and thoroughly.

SUJ

Thanks for you input Juan. This will be very useful to other radio users.