Is it legal to play unreleased tracks on air?

yotan18

I got into a discussion with my best friend on this topic. He told me, that the radio CAN play anything they want to a record. I told him, is there a law that maybe prohibits a radio station to play any song off a record at will. he told me that there is no law like that.

i told him, why do they even release "singles" if the radio CAN play any song off the record. He told me that it is marketing, but if they want to, they can...

is this true?

trappedinmyradio

yotan18 wrote:

I got into a discussion with my best friend on this topic. He told me, that the radio CAN play anything they want to a record. I told him, is there a law that maybe prohibits a radio station to play any song off a record at will. he told me that there is no law like that.

i told him, why do they even release "singles" if the radio CAN play any song off the record. He told me that it is marketing, but if they want to, they can...

is this true?

if the song has not been released there is no permission granted...once the record is released...the permission is granted...

yotan18

trappedinmyradio wrote:

if the song has not been released there is no permission granted...once the record is released...the permission is granted...

this is what i think is correct. but is this a fact? i mean, he tells me, that the station doesn't play any song they want because of marketing. but if they really wanted to, they can with no permissions required.

Ahnimus

"Is it legal to play unreleased tracks on air?"

If you can figure out another way of playing tracks, let me know.

yotan18

Ahnimus wrote:

"Is it legal to play unreleased tracks on air?"

If you can figure out another way of playing tracks, let me know.

i don't get you? i'm saying like for PJ... they released Life Wasted as the second single right? What if the radio stations opted to play Severed Hand instead... is it ok? is it legal? Or the radio station should just play what was released as an official single?

Ahnimus

yotan18 wrote:

i don't get you? i'm saying like for PJ... they released Life Wasted as the second single right? What if the radio stations opted to play Severed Hand instead... is it ok? is it legal? Or the radio station should just play what was released as an official single?

I don't know. I was just being smart. Radio Waves are thought to be played "On Air" because they travel through air. I was suggesting that you might know another way of transmitting radio waves. But I was just being a smart ass.

wolfbear

I remember some stations playing the PJ album before it was officially released and getting in trouble for it, but I think all that happened was kind of a slap on the hand. I don't know legally how much trouble they could get in. It would probably be costly to pursue and any advertising is good advertising right?

Kel Varnsen

I think the idea of "singles" for radio play is pure marketing. I remember seeing some show on 20/20 one time that talked about how back in the 70's (around the time of Frampton Comes Alive) record companies realized if you push one song at a time, it makes it easier to create a buzz around an artist. Radio stations went along with it because (well at first they were bribed), but basically buzz around a band they are playing is good for them. If they wanted to though the radio stations could play what ever they want. But it is in their best interest to play the tracks that are actually getting promotion from the record companies. Back when Yield came out I remembered that the morning DJ I used to listen to on the way to school would play Brain of J every morning. It wasn't an official single but it was his favorite song so he would always play it.

catefrances

yotan18 wrote:

i don't get you? i'm saying like for PJ... they released Life Wasted as the second single right? What if the radio stations opted to play Severed Hand instead... is it ok? is it legal? Or the radio station should just play what was released as an official single?

think about it. if it were illegal then the record companies wouldn't send the ENTIRE album to the stations in the first place, now would they? my radio station triplej australia, plays any song they feel like playing, or that gets requested, in addition to the "singles".

darkcrow

dunno what the situation is like the usa, but i have heard radio stations here in the uk playing tracks of a record that are not singles. as long as the bands get their royalty checks i geuss no one cares

Kel Varnsen

darkcrow wrote:

dunno what the situation is like the usa, but i have heard radio stations here in the uk playing tracks of a record that are not singles. as long as the bands get their royalty checks i geuss no one cares

I don't think bands get royalties from radio play. At least that is what they told me when I volunteered for my University radio station. Basically it is a trade off, the station gets to play the music and in turn the band gets free promotion.

Sonja_S

Kel Varnsen wrote:

I don't think bands get royalties from radio play. At least that is what they told me when I volunteered for my University radio station. Basically it is a trade off, the station gets to play the music and in turn the band gets free promotion.

I have no idea if there's some kind of exception with University radio in the US but of course artists get royalties from radio play. They even get royalties if more than 59 seconds of a song are used somewhere on radio or tv (for example as a background song when they are doing a story on a ski race or something like that). What do you think countless one hit wonders still live off?

Radio stations can play whatever songs they like as long as they have been released. Usually singles that have not been released yet (the first single of a new album) get a so-called air-date which is decided by the record company and either you make a deal with one station who is allowed to play it first or it's the same everywhere.

In the old days when I did that stuff for a living, we had the radio stations sign that we would rip them a new one in court if they dared to play a single before the official airdate. I think they still do that, I'll ask tomorrow.

Kel Varnsen

Sonja_S wrote:

I have no idea if there's some kind of exception with University radio in the US but of course artists get royalties from radio play. They even get royalties if more than 59 seconds of a song are used somewhere on radio or tv (for example as a background song when they are doing a story on a ski race or something like that). What do you think countless one hit wonders still live off?

Radio stations can play whatever songs they like as long as they have been released. Usually singles that have not been released yet (the first single of a new album) get a so-called air-date which is decided by the record company and either you make a deal with one station who is allowed to play it first or it's the same everywhere.

In the old days when I did that stuff for a living, we had the radio stations sign that we would rip them a new one in court if they dared to play a single before the official airdate. I think they still do that, I'll ask tomorrow.

Well the way the dude explained it to me was that radio stations in Canada (which is where I live by the way) don't have to pay royalties since the artists benefit as much from the radio play as the station does. Of course if you use a song in a commercial you have to pay, but if you are playing a song on the radio it is basically a commercial for the band.

Sonja_S

Kel Varnsen wrote:

Well the way the dude explained it to me was that radio stations in Canada (which is where I live by the way) don't have to pay royalties since the artists benefit as much from the radio play as the station does. Of course if you use a song in a commercial you have to pay, but if you are playing a song on the radio it is basically a commercial for the band.

Sorry! I didn't check where you were from! And that after I spent 2 days of the week trying to educate people about Canada

Nope, not true. I've seen the royalty statements that artists receive. Some of them really make almost all of their living that way (over here, hopefully not in Canada since there's about 4 times as many Canadians than Austrians and your music scene is a lot healthier than ours).

I can imagine university stations having a special agreement with the IFPI but commercial radio has to pay up.

BTW if you use a song in a commerical you have to get permission from the artist/management and directly pay them a fee negociated before based on your ad budget, the number of spots etc, that's not the radio station's problem at all.