Podsafe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Podsafe is a term created in the podcasting community to refer to any work which, through its licensing, specifically allows the use of the work in podcasting, regardless of restrictions the same work might have in other realms. For example, a song may be legal to use in podcasts, but may need to be purchased or have royalties paid for over-the-air radio use, television use, and possibly even personal use.
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[edit] Motives
[edit] For the podcaster
As podcasting grows more and more popular, illegal use of heavily licensed music (as through the RIAA) starts to grow at an extremely high pace. This is in general of greater concern to podcasters than to the typical sharer of music, because podcasters usually produce their shows for and promote them to the public—a far more overt and traceable action.
Including such licensed music legally has its own set of caveats. Indeed, under many jurisdictions it's currently impossible, but the message from those in the know is that many licensing agencies, if they do intend to allow the use of their music on podcasts, will require not only the payment of royalties but also the use of DRM on the shows. (DRM, because of its proprietary, system-specific nature, would be destructive to the general openness and system independence of podcasts.)
Use of podsafe music instead of more stringently licensed material allows a podcaster to continue to produce an inexpensive, legal program with little hassle. Not least important for an independent podcaster is the promise of being able to avoid the confusing maze of licensing organisations.
[edit] For the artist
Conventional radio (and television) can present a difficult, and not always logical, barrier of entry for a musician or other media artist involving large sums of money and often a great deal of surrender in both ownership and creative freedom.
In contrast, podcasting, an increasingly popular medium for audio programs, is as a whole very receptive, indeed thirsty for artists and input. This is due in part to the creative and economic nature of the largely independent podcasting community and further fueled by its need to avoid repetition. While a conventional radio show may be able to risk replaying a large part of its music selection from day to day, there would be little point in downloading a music podcast whose selection did not vary significantly from a previous show. Podcasting is thus a voracious medium. With a growing and international audience podcasting is now becoming an effective means for inexpensive artist promotion often aimed squarely at the people most likely to be interested in that type of music.
[edit] Definition of "podsafe"
The effective definition of "podsafe" for a given work depends entirely on the contract through which the podcaster licenses the work; there is no single podsafe license. The concept of podsafety, in its true form, greatly favors the artist and the profitability of the artist's product, in exchange for only very limited concessions to the podcasting community.
While some works (such as public domain works or works under some Creative Commons licenses) are inherently podsafe, the only actual requirement for a work to be podsafe is that any licensing requirements it has, if applicable, allow for the work's free use (typical broadcast use in its original form, if in no other form, depending on the specific license) in a podcast or web broadcast. This gives specific favor to podcasts only, allowing the artist to impose more traditional constraints on everyone else. Podsafe licensing can, for example, continue to require non-podcast consumers to pay for the work, require royalties on derivative works, and profit significantly from the work's use in traditional radio, television, or film.
The licensor of any podsafe work must be legally capable of making it so. An artist cannot distribute his or her own work through a podsafe license if doing so would break any laws or breach any standing agreements (e.g. with the RIAA). The creator of a derivative work may also not claim this work podsafe without express permission from the original copyright holders. (PMN has more specific and stringent terms to this effect in its agreement.)
Another point of contention is that not all podcasts are non-commercial works; in fact, an increasing number of podcasts are taking on sponsors and looking to make a profit. In general, no significant distinction is yet made between podsafe for non-commercial use and podsafe for commercial use, but it could easily arise at any moment.
[edit] PMN definition of "podsafe"
Loosely translated, music licensed through Podsafe Music Network (PMN), the podsafe music repository run by the PodShow podcasting network, is podsafe (as of 2005 November 21) in that the music can be played by any user from its website, may be downloaded only by podcasters intending to use the work in a broadcast or by users intending to create a similarly licensed and properly attributed derivative work (mash-ups are explicitly allowed), and may be used for free in a public podcast or streamed webcast, if properly attributed as set forth in the terms. Of course, to legally post music to PMN, the poster must fully own the work, the work must be entirely original (with little exception), and the poster must retain most rights to the work, despite any prior or future legal agreements. PMN does not currently deny the same rights to commercial podcasters, and, since it is owned by a commercial podcast network, it may not be inclined to do so in the future.
[edit] Providers of Podsafe Content
A majority of Podsafe music currently available is "royalty free" providing no charge to the podcaster and no royalty to the artist. Other providers have developed models that provide podcasters the opportunity to pay a license fee for music used which provides a royalty to the artist.
[edit] Rumblefish
On February 25th, 2006 Rumblefish http://www.rumblefish.com/ showcased a new podcasting license at The Podcast Hotel http://www.thepodcasthotel.com/
License Details:
- $5.00 (USD) per song/per podcast (episode)
- Unlimited downloads of each episode
- Requires artist attribution (vocal and/or visual)
- Perhaps most notably, Rumblefish splits the net license fee with the artist.
The Rumblefish cross-genre catalog is comprised of US and international independent artist & label members - recognizeable artists worth noting: George Clinton, Kool & the Gang, Ohmega Watts, Mel Torme, Cex, Art Tatum, Rye Hollow, John Kelley and a lot of "amazing unknown indies"
[edit] SESAC
On February 25th, 2006 SESAC http://www.sesac.com participated in a panel at the Podcast Hotel[2] entitled "How do you legally license a podcast?" and discussed a license they have made available to podcasters for the "small performance rights" for the titles represented in their catalog.
- SESAC Podcasting/Internet License: http://www.sesac.com/pdf/internet_ATH_2006.pdf
[edit] Providers of Royalty-Free Podsafe Content
While any source of content under appropriate licenses is effectively a podsafe content provider, multiple sources now operate with the explicit intent of providing royalty-free content to podcasters. These sites typically release the entirety of their content under a single license in order to avoid confusion or difficulty.
[edit] PodSafe Audio
PodSafe Audio was the first website created strictly for collecting and cataloguing podsafe audio for podcasters. Founded in March of 2005, PodSafe Audio provides over two thousand royalty-free songs (over 165 hours) for podcasters.
PodSafeAudio.com was featured in the October 2005 issue of PC Magazine along with PodShow's Podsafe Music Network in an article about the "legal entanglements" of using music in podcasts.[3] Registration on the site is free, and artists can upload up to 150 megabytes of their music. PodSafe Audio also allows artists the ability to sell their CDs directly from the site at no charge.
Artists' rights to their music are summarily protected under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 license. This allows podcasters to freely use the music so long as the digital performance is not intended primarily for financial gain. This license also allows artists to negotiate terms with record labels who would like to sign them or otherwise commercialize their music.
[edit] Podsafe Music Network
PodShow's Podsafe Music Network, is a comprehensive source for podsafe music. Founded in the summer of 2005, PMN brings a large group of podcasters together with a wide variety of all-podsafe music and the artists who produce it. The advent of the network has brought forth its own stars within the podcasting realm, including Brother Love, Chance, and other musicians who have proven themselves to be as on par with the state of the art of music as the best podcasters are with the state of the art in media.
- Site: http://music.podshow.com/
- Licenses
- Use: PMN Producer Terms
- Submission: PMN Artist Terms
[edit] Independent Online Distribution Alliance
On the 2005 December 4 episode of Accident Hash, C.C. Chapman indicated that the Independent Online Distribution Alliance[4] (IODA) may become a podsafe music provider. On March 14, 2006 IODA launched their beta-phase service, called Promonet, which allows pre-qualified members to download pre-cleared tracks free of charge for promotional purposes -- including blogs, podcasts, Internet radio stations, e-zines, social networks, and other promotional music sites. IODA's license specifies terms under which members can use "Promotracks" on their site if they agree to identify the music and include links to the artist and label web sites, as well as purchase links to digital retail sites, using link texts provided via the Promonet interface. To date, during the Promonet beta, clicks to nearly 10,000 digital buy links have been logged from the use of Promotracks in blogs and podcasts. [citation needed]
[edit] Tables Turned
Tables Turned[5] licenses music from its label and composer partners and uses it to promotes new music to the college radio industry.
[edit] Cultural impact
[edit] Adam Curry and podsafety
Until early 2005 November, the Daily Source Code, the flagship podcast of PodShow, hosted by former MTV VJ and current technology entrepreneur, regularly ran afoul of music licensing regulations.
The show typically opened with a remix of a Rachmaninov piece, often followed by a mash-up—a DJ-produced combination of two or more already extant tracks—of RIAA-licensed music. It also regularly featured independently-produced segments that centered on such licensed music, like Jan Polet's Hit Test [6], which quizzed the host to identify a song based on a split-second of its introduction, and Backtracks, which similarly challenged the host to identify a song from a few measures played in reverse. He would occasionally even play an entirely unmodified song.
Curry never claimed that doing any of this was sound from a legal perspective. However, he and others did have arguments that what he was doing was not a bad idea:
- The Hit Test and Backtracks segments used pieces of songs that were, as a rule, under 60 seconds in length, qualifying them for what would be considered, in most areas, as fair use.
- Those segments and mash-ups featured non-current, back catalogue music. Their use on the shows effectively promoted sales of the individual songs involved over iTunes Music Store and similar services, while taking negligible momentum from conventional radio.
- The rules for music licensing in podcasts simply had not been written yet, and having real examples in hand of podcasting as an effective promotional tool could be helpful or crucial in convincing agencies like the RIAA to favor podcasters in their rules.
Adam Curry's status as an advocate and role model for podcasters led numerous other podcasters to bend the rules in the same ways, using similar arguments.
Despite this, he regularly commented on DSC that if it is really important for a show not to break any rules, a podcaster should not do so. (To this end, Curry had also advocated the development and use of what is now known as podsafe music, and his production company PodShow created a new site called the Podsafe Music Network.)
Finally, after much debate on the subject with industry professionals and members of European parliament, as well as multiple complaints from Dutch music services about violations, Curry decided he'd hit a dead end and that any further negotiation with music licensors was futile. On 2005 November 7 he committed his show to henceforth being entirely podsafe.
The implications of this move, including the future exclusion of staple segments such as Hit Test, Backtracks, and the regular mashuptown.com tracks, reached further than his own show. Immediately, or soon afterward, all shows on PodShow began to use only podsafe music, if they didn't already, and a large number of other podcasters followed suit, either in fear that they could no longer get away with what Adam couldn't, or in simple support of Adam's decision and of podsafe music.
The producers of the Hit Test and Backtracks, as well as creators of many other podcasts formerly centered on licensed music, are looking to prove their mettle as producers by coming up with new subjects or altogether new shows. PodShow's own music-centered programming made short work of switching its primary focus to the music on PMN and whatever other podsafe music it can find that is worth mention.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Dave's Podsafe Music Resource
- How to Find Podsafe Music
- Comparison chart of podcast music providers
- French podsafe music resource under creative commons
- Royalty Free Podsafe Music
- Podsafe Christmas Carols and guitar instrumentals
