Is it legal to stream music online?

Hi,

I want to learn if is it legal to stream music files online to let visitors to listen them?
i mean no downloading is allowed or will possible. people will listen the songs like listening a radio.
Does anyone know anything about this?

Thanks

 

Check out radioblogclub. com. They supposedly bought a special license in France in order to run an online radio station. It is honestly a gray area though. It would really depend on what country you're in. You could always just sidestep it by using the club's plugin (if you just want to add radio to a personal site).

 

I always wanted to know this but you can always googled it and find out:

In my opinion it is legal because your not physically distributing the music and reselling it, but merely letting users to sample the audio.

Nevertheless find out below:
http://all-streaming-media.com/streaming-media-faq/
http://www.answers.com/topic/streaming-media

 

i would say it is illegal because radio stations usually pay royalties to artist each time they play their song(s), however whether this applies to online stations i am not sure.

edit - - - - -

just as i thought > http://wdvl.internet.com/Multimedia/WebRadio/front_end.html

 

You would need rights to all the music you make available to your members.

Or else you will be in trouble if the bands found out.

 

It all depends on where your radio station is based.

To my knowledge in the USA you do not need any special licence, YET.
Just look at di.fm

 

Maybe you can set up a private area just for members to participate in listening to various music streams. I would love to know if I could share music openly with registered members of my forum. Not downloading it, just listening. Rather confusing issue to me.

 

thanks everyone ...