What are the Copyright rules when Podcasting?

Podcasting is one of the Growing areas of Marketing, why? Well for a number of reasons, one big one,

this is that the trends in purchasing decisions have evolved, where people really want to connect with a brand or company.

As humans, we really connect with the human voice in video and audio, that is where Podcasting really is a tool to look at.

So one of the questions people first ask is about “Copyright”, “can I play music on my podcast or will I get into trouble for adding some small excerpts of music (or full tracks) on to my Podcast?”.

The answer can be both yes and no and depends where you to post your episodes (I know not much help, but carry on reading and I will try clear it up).

Where To Be Careful

If you want to add music to a podcast (in most cases you are not allowed to have any Music on a Podcast), as the artist and their record company want their royalties (the money that gets paid every time a track is played on radio, TV and the like).

So if you are thinking of posting to places like Itunes , Youtube, and platforms like Spotify – Then be careful what you include on the episode.

The best course of action is don’t add any music to the show as it will get picked up by the platform’s systems and you could get in hot bother for it. The only exceptions would be music and jingles which you own and have created or if you have paid for the broadcasting rights. There are however a number of services offering Royalty Free music on places like Youtube that you can use (sometimes they request you credit them on the show notes) there are links like this you can check out Youtube Royalty free 

Where you Can post Music

So where can you freely post Podcast that includes music? Well, there is a platform that allows copyright music to be included which is MixCloud , “what about the artist royalties?” I hear you ask. Well, Mixcloud through subscriptions pays the artist for tracks that are played on their platform.

The golden rule with things like this is “If in doubt leave it out”.

(disclaimer; this blog is aimed as guidance and you are responsible to check out the current rules and regulations, as these may change following this publication or be different in your area).