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Digital Millenium Copyright Act Info

WORT is streaming all News and Public Affairs programming, but only some Music programming - the music that conforms to the restrictions of the DMCA. This is because the Digital Millennium Copyright Act specifies limits for what can be streamed.

The Short Version:

Several of our regular programs fall outside the bounds of this law (which restricts how many songs from one album can be played), and you'll hear them on the radio, but not on the web stream.

There's also a rule against moving forward and backward through a stream, so we've had to disable "scrolling" in some places. Live music performances, and talk-format programs, are exempt.

The Long Version:

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a U.S. law, passed in 1998, which regulates many aspects of Internet activity. It was established, presumably, to protect the copyrighted material of artists, scientists, writers, etc. in these times of growing technology. Part of this act establishes that the recording industry would have a right to collect royalties for their performers based on Internet "airplay."

It took a while for that to kick in, but in 2003 - amidst much debate and confusion - a set of rules and royalties was established for webcasters to follow. Among them are new and more strenuous rules about reporting every song played via the webstream.

We're prepared to do whatever we can to continue streaming. NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have worked hard to help us and other public radio stations, with legal support and coordination of the complicated tasks.

Some of these DMCA rules outline restrictions on the frequency some songs can be played. These are the basic points:

In any 3-hour period, we can webcast:
  • No more than 3 songs from one album; no more than 2 played consecutively
  • No more than 4 songs from a set/compilation; no more than 3 played consecutively
  • No more than 4 recorded songs by the same artist (live studio appearances are okay)

Shows from the WORT Archives that venture beyond these limits have been removed. Future shows will have to follow the guidelines, or not be streamed. There are gaps in the live stream for some programs.

Some shows won't be streamed or archived, ever. Some shows will appear in the archives when possible. For many shows, there won't be a noticeable difference.

Another element of the rules states that listeners should not be able to call up any particular song on demand, so therefore, there should be no way to "scroll" forward or backward through the streaming shows that contain any recorded music (live is okay, and news programs).

We are left with the choice of following the guidelines or giving up our audio presence online.

More information about the DMCA

Let them know how you feel about the situation and about the DMCA!