"In 1995, BMI was one of my first clients when I was in the website building business. I worked very closely with them on creating the first internet music 'broadcast' license which we later used for some internet events for another client; Budweiser.
A lot of people have been questioning the use of licensed music in Podcasts and I too feel that the time has come to face any legal ramifications of this audio wave we're riding now, and not let it take us by surprise.
I am of course not a lawyer, but I think I can successfully argue that using copyrighted musical works in a podcast qualifies as a performance and broadcast usage. This is significantly different from what the RIAA is suing file sharing teenagers over. In fact, there should be no difference in taping a 'show' on cassette tape and selling it on a street corner to taping a podcast and distributing it via rss. These podcasts are creative works that build on existing work. Exactly what licenses are made for, so everyone gets their piece of the action.
So, in my non-legal opinion, podcasters need to obtain a license from two musical rights organizations: BMI and ASCAP. Both of these licensers have online forms available with different models, but most are revenue based and you'll wind up paying the minimum fee for both, even if you don't make a dime. Grand total is approximately $500 annually. Expect to pay about 4% of gross revenue once real money (>$1000) starts coming in.
I'd love to hear a legal opinion on my analysis, but if I'm right, we have a shot at making podcasting as commercially viable as broadcast radio."
Emailing with Larry Lessig today, he said something surprising about 
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