[grc] grc Digest, Vol 7, Issue 23

[Modular Media]

Hi Ellen,

If modern means after 1923, which I expect it does, the works will
probably be copyrighted, otherwise, if before 1923, you are free to use
anything because those works in the US are in the public domain. So are a
surprising number of works from 1923-63 on which the copyright has expired
and was not renewed but it's a bear to find out what they are. A good
place to start is 
http://collections.stanford.edu/copyrightrenewals/bin/page?forward=home.

If you are using the whole work or a substantial portion of a work that is
still in copyright, you'd need to get permission from the copyright holder
who might be the publisher, the author, or occasionally even someone else.
I wouldn't pay anything unless there is a particular piece that you just
have to have. There are plenty of authors who are happy to have their
works read on the air.

There are also stories that are online under Creative Commons licenses
that you could use. You can search for them at search.creativecommons.org
or using http://www.google.com/advanced_search, and filtering by "usage
rights."

I'm not aware of any literary licensing agency similar to ASCAP.

Good luck,
Jim Campbell

On 4/28/15 3:00 PM, "grc-request at maillist.peak.org"
<grc-request at maillist.peak.org> wrote:

>Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2015 11:40:29 -0700
>From: Ellen Stewart <ellenhaysstewart at gmail.com>
>To: grc at maillist.peak.org
>Subject: [grc] Licenses/Royalties Question
>Message-ID: <398C0E02-6B2F-4321-A2F6-DEAF9A68B473 at gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
>Our upcoming station in Sonora, California (KAAD-LP) would like to do
>some narration programming using modern short stories, memoir and
>biographies performed by community talent.
>
>Does a payment have to be negotiated with a literary agent or publisher
>of the piece individually or is there a licensing organization similar to
>ASCAP that covers groups of publishers?
>
>What is a reasonable amount of fee to expect to pay to both broadcast and
>stream?
>
>Thanks for the help!
>
>Ellen Stewart