Live Radio feed for my browsers

What is the technology and methodology needed

[newborn]

Hello I run a website from the Caribbean. In a survey run on my site I asked my browsers what radio station they listen to the most.

Over 80% said Channel X. I would like to allow my browsers the opportunity to listen to Channel X while they are browsing and actually drive traffic to my site for people who want to listen to this Channel.

First XM and Sirus are limited as they dont have any Caribbean channels only US and Canada and in fact dont allow broadcasting live.

I have searched the web high and low and cant find this can anyone help.

NB

[jtara]

The technology part is pretty easy. You need a halfway decent sound card and the free Shoutcast server or similar software.

The hard part is getting permission from the radio station to rebroacast their content, and arranging and paying the licensing fees to the appropriate copyright authorities.

[newborn]

Ok getting the permission might be pretty easy, but licensing fees!.
Why would this be an issue. Why do I need a license to "rebroadcast". This is all new to me. There is one company that does this in my country and now I am wondering if this might be an issue. I found a company...and you were right pretty easy, technology wise.

Do you know any online company that does this that you can point me to or if you have first hand knowledge of how this works to give me a step by step summary of what to do.

NB

[jtara]

but licensing fees!.
Why would this be an issue. Why do I need a license to "rebroadcast"

If the radio station you are rebroadcasting produces all of it's own material and owns the rights to all of the material it broadcasts, no problem! (Assuming the station gives you permission.)

However, that's unrealistic. There's no radio station in the world that does that.

The problem is music. The recording labels hold copyrights on the songs they distribute. For broadcast, they have made arrangements with several licensing organizations that arrange to collect fees from broadcasters.

When you buy a CD, you are only acquiring the right to enjoy it privately. So, when a radio station acquires a CD, that does not give them the right to broadcast it - they need a seprate license for that.

Note that technically, any public place that plays music needs a license as well - bars, clubs, etc. need a license for public performance. Smaller venues probably get away without this undetected. I suppose in some places some fellow named "Vinny" takes care of this.

Radio station has a license with the various music licensing organizations (BMI, ASCAP, SESAC) that gives them the right to play music on the air. That license doesn't extend to third-party rebroadcasts.

There's more information here:

[nfcb.org...]

Note: the above link summarizes licensing requirements for non-profit community broadcasters. (Yes, even they have to pay.) I assume rates are higher for commercial broadcasters. I thought this would be a useful starting point, though.

You can get more detailed information below:

[ascap.com...]

[bmi.com...]

[sesac.com...]

I see one possible out for you. Perhaps since this stations is cooperative, and assuming they are not already on the Internet, perhaps you can make arrangements with them to put them on the Internet acting as their agent. I believe that current ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC licenses permit web broadcasts at no additional cost. But not a REBROADCAST by a third party. So, perhaps acting as a service provider, you can stream their signal on the Internet and this would become their official web streaming presence.

Good luck! You've got some reading to do!