Podcasting and Copyrighted Material

Via jkOnTheRun:

With the rapid growth of Podcasting it is possible for anyone with a PC, microphone, and a place to host their recorded programming to set up their own "radio" show. It is a fledgling field and the parameters are just being defined now with a few innovative bloggers taking the lead. I think a number of issues affecting Podcasting are going to raise their ugly heads sooner rather than later. A lot of Podcasts I listen to are using really nice background music and I'll bet a some of it is copyrighted material. I predict we will see some nasty legal battles that end up shutting down some bloggers who are dabbling in Podcasting. It is not a straightforward issue and sure to divide the community into sides, as these issues usually do. I guess the basic truth is that copyrighted material is owned by the copyright holder and their permission must be obtained before using this stuff. No doubt a lot of people will argue that the Podcasters are just little guys and hobbyists and they should be allowed to use this copyrighted music (or other material). The fact will probably come out that some of these Podcasters do in fact do this for money (in the form of advertising or the like) and the issue will get even muddier and messier. Keep an eye out for this- I am predicting this will get nasty.

Offsite link: Podcasting and Copyrighted Material