A sound salvation (Jack Bog's Blog)

I've always wished that I had my own radio show. Having played with that medium extensively in my teens, 20s, and 30s, I miss the enjoyment that one gets by locking oneself up in a studio for hours at a time with the sole purpose of creating sound. It's easy to forget everything else while in there. Live radio is especially fun, but even recorded programming is a blast to make.

Although talk shows are interesting to do, it's playing recorded music that gives me the biggest kick. Without a radio station willing to give me a slot, I've DJ'd a few parties in my time, and those experiences have confirmed the draw that this particular activity has on me.

Well, now I see that it's possible to do it yourself on the web. "Podcasting" is the Next Big Thing, and I can't see myself letting the opportunity slip by.

With a music show, though, there's the sticky question of copyright. To play your typical recorded music, you need three or four licenses from the big bad licensing agencies. As best I can tell, the licenses run about $1200 a year, even for a guy with a small blog. Of course, if the show's a hit, there will be bandwidth repercussions as well, and the whole thing could wind up running a couple of grand a year to do without legal hassles.

That's pretty spendy for a hobby. Something to brood about, though.

Comments (5)

As you probably know, you can set up your own radio station through Live365 (www.live365.com). I don't really know much more about it, but I can't imagine it would end up running into thousands of dollars.

Posted by Rozanne | February 18, 2005 8:50 AM

I know of a radio program you could go on to talk about that idea.

Posted by Randy Leonard | February 18, 2005 8:50 AM

I think you may find it is MUCH more expensive than that. The record labels want to get paid too.

The guy with more info than anyone on the subject?

John Mielke
owner
www.radio84.com

John used to simalcast his local station on the web until the labels sent him a rather large invoice.

Posted by Mike | February 18, 2005 9:19 AM

Apparently the law on all this changed last year. Nowadays the record companies get theirs through an outfit called Soundexchange -- $500 a year for a small blogger. The songwriters get theirs through BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC -- around $700 a year.

Posted by Jack Bog | February 18, 2005 9:37 AM

There's more info here:

http://blog.lextext.com/blog/_archives/2005/1/4/225172.html

Posted by Jack Bog | February 18, 2005 9:43 AM

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Friday, February 18, 2005

A sound salvation

Comments (5)

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