Can I Play This Song in my Podcast?

Your Podcast Consultant

This is one of the most frequently asked questions about podcasting. I hear things like:

• But I'm a small show
• My podcast doesn't make any money
• I'm only playing (X amount of time)
• I bought the CD

The reality is, it doesn't matter. You need permission from the songwriter, the performer, and whoever owns the mechanical rights (typically a record label). The problem is podcasts are downloadable. If they were streaming only, but because their not they don't fall under the same situation where a soundscape account could make you legal. Then throw on top of it that podcastin is global so what is legal in the US might be different in another country.

My friend Steve Stewart for a takedown notice from Spotify. (see tweet). These episodes from 2012-2014 and he just now getting notices.

The authors of the book Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright might say it is fine as he didn't gave away the full song. However, when you use it as a bed (think soundtrack), things get murky.

What I've seen people do is have a musician listen to the song they like and make one very similar to the original, and use it for their show.

There are places such as Music Radio Creative, Fiverr where you can hire people to write your own jingle. It won't be $5, but if you buy a logo at some place like Audio Jungle, it is often under $20 and then you can hire someone to do just a voice-over and put them together yourself.

In the end, I would just stay away from playing unlicensed music (fair use or not).

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