Issues we may face setting up a College radio station
Issues Solutions
Individuals are not entitled to hold a
licence. We only offer licences to
registered companies (or equivalent
bodies such as those created by
statute).
Each station can carry advertising and
sponsorship, although there are rules
on how much income they can take
from these sources (income above
15,000 from advertising and
sponsorship must be balanced with
additional income from other sources).
Consideration of all applications is
likely to take a number of months. We
only have one month to complete this
unit so applying to Ofcom could take
too long.
In order to play recorded music in
radio broadcasts, legal permission is
needed from the copyright holders. A
PPL licence gives you this permission.
PLL licenses cost between 167 -
511, which is very expensive and
possibly undoable within our
class/course.
The Henley College is a company so
we are entitled to create a Radio
Station, however we cannot do this
individually.
It will only be a small radio station so
we will not need lots of advertising
and it is very unlikely to gain a profit
of over 15,000.
We could continue to do the radio
station after the unit is finished as it is
something the college could use and
future students can enjoy.
We could do some fundraising as the
radio station is something that will
benefit the college and the students
so people may we willing to donate
money in order to set it up.
It is illegal to play recorded music in a
radio or TV broadcast without a
license. You must get permission from
the copyright holder prior to
broadcasting music. However, as a
broadcaster it is important to get a
license. A PPL licence allows you to
play the majority of songs that is
already available. With a PPL license,
playing recorded songs is legal and
allows money to be passed on to the
appropriate copyright holders. Without

In most instances, a music licence is
required from both PPL and PRS for
Music for you to legally broadcast
recorded music
Some music will fall outside the scope of
the blanket licence agreement so do not
assume you can use a piece of music
without checking first. Every blanket is
different in terms of what music it covers
and how you can use the music in your
programme.
If you do not obtain clearance for your
use of copyrighted music, you could
face legal action for copyright
infringement and may become liable
to pay damages and costs.
a PPL license, you would
have to contact every
single holder to gain
permission, which is time consuming,
and could potentially be unsuccessful.
PPL is a quick, easy and affordable
way of gaining permission to use
music in radio.
A PPL license collects and distributes
money to record companies and
performers of recorded music.
Whereas a PRS licence collects and
distributes money for the use of music
on the behalf of the writers,
composers and publishers. These
licenses allow you to gain permission
for the majority of songs available,
without having to spend time
contacting them all individually and
having to split money between them.
The licence does it all for you.
Having a blanket license does not
mean that you can use ALL songs. You
still need to spend time checking that
it is all right to use certain songs,
even with a blanket license.
It is important we do not use any
music without getting permission from
the copyright holders or before
applying for licensees. If we use it
without permission, we could be in
serious trouble as it is illegal.