Is your podcast content protected by copyright

Is your podcast content copyright protected - Pump Up Your Pod by Bamby Media

Copyright isn’t something you’d necessarily think about when you’re in podcasting, but it’s a factor you definitely need to consider.

You can’t copyright a topic or idea, but the words you say in your podcast episodes belong to you. In this episode, I’m talking about whether your podcast content is protected by copyright, some of the legal considerations, and what you can do to make sure no one steals your stuff!

Thankfully in Australia, it’s pretty simple to copyright your content. Always write down your ideas and keep a record of them. Where it gets murky is when someone puts their own spin on something you’ve said. You can’t really stop people from doing that! Although it’s somewhat of a compliment to you if someone is copying your content, I talk about when or why you might want to get a lawyer involved.

A really important area you need to understand copywriting is music. Every piece of music you use, no matter how small, MUST be licensed properly. As a musician, I can’t stress enough how important it is to make sure you have the right license in place for the music you’re using! For Bamby Media clients, we take care of all the licensing, read all the fine print, and arrange all this to make sure the artists are remunerated accordingly for their work.

I also discuss trademarks, the difference between trademarking and copyrighting, and share some great resources for you to find out everything you need to know.

When it comes to anything legal, make sure you always read the fine print. And for anyone out there who wants to copy someone else without asking, don't do that. That's bad. Very bad.

Resources:

Rise Up In Business Podcast

Artlist

Articles explaining copyright in podcasting:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/blog/copyright-for-podcasters

Transcript:

00:00
Welcome to Pump Up Your Pod today I'm coming at you to talk about copyright. It's not something that you would particularly think about first up, when you're starting a podcast, do I need to copyright my show? How do I do that? Is it necessary? Is someone going to try and steal my stuff?

Firstly, how do you copyright your material? Well, in Australia, it's pretty great, it's pretty simple. All you need to do is have it written down or recorded or on paper, or whatever, for it to be your copy written material. So for example, when I was a musician, as soon as that music came out of my brain into something that I wrote down, so if it was lyrics on the page, or if I recorded the song, those sorts of things, then it became my copyright. That was my copyright, I did it, it was my original thing from my brain. And it has been recorded or there is some sort of proof that it is mine somewhere, meaning that no one can use that and claim that it is their own. So that is the same for podcasting. As soon as you have recorded the material or anything, you know, you've written it down, then it is copyright, it is yours, that legally means that someone can't take that exact thing and say that it's theirs.

And in the podcasting space, it's not something that people would really do so much. Because for them to have taken your copy written material, it kind of has to include your voice as well. So it has to be your exact copy for them to be copying that and then passing it off as their own. But where it gets a little bit more murky, I suppose is if they listen to your stuff, and then they put their own spin on it. That's not really your material, because it's their original play on what you've put out there. Same way, as you know, in the podcasting, industry, or any industry, if you read an article, and then you're like, Oh, that's great, you know, I feel like I can add more to this discussion, then you take what was a piece of written work, and then you transform it into something that has your spin on it, the key there is your spin.

So it can't be the same words, it can't be the same thing. It can be the same topic, you can't copyright a topic or an idea. If you feel like it's too close to what you do, then by all means, get a lawyer involved and, you know, get them to weigh in on it. But do know that as soon as you write something down or you record it, then it's copyright.

The other places that copyright really is important is in the music that you choose to use in your podcast. When you come to us as a client and you say you want the music for your show, we go to music licencing platforms where we can licence tracks to your show through our licencing fees that we pay to that place, right? We've paid a licencing fee. We've read the terms and conditions, we understand what the use of that music is. And we know that it's fine to be included in your show the proper attribution has been done. exchange of services for money has been created there, there is a licence that is in place for the lifetime of you being with us as a client. If you left us as a client and you wanted to still use that music in its entirety, you want to just take that track and put it on a different thing that we have had nothing to do with then you cannot do that. The licence does not cover you to do that. And you can get in big trouble for it. Music is a big deal as far as how to use it legally on your podcast without getting in trouble. Same reason why? You know, you can't just use a full track or even part of a track of a really famous song that you're like, Oh, I love that Bruno Mars song, I want to use a bit of that in my show, you're not allowed to do that. Radio shows have licences from the publishers have that music to be able to use that music on their radio shows and you know, spread that to the public. It's not something that you can get around it is very important and it is the way that the musicians get paid. We get paid royalties for the use of our tracks on different things, you know, Instagram and streaming services and YouTube and everywhere. We get royalties from that and that's because it's our copy written material and it needs to be used appropriately.

So I want to express to you how important it is that you're using the music that you have on your podcast appropriately, that you have the right licence in place to be able to use that music. And again, as I said before, if you have someone else engaged like an agency production company or whatever, that have picked a song, and licenced it on your behalf through their business, because we have the licences for it. You can't use that song on other things, you can't use that song on video and stuff that you haven't got asked to do, that you've done, you cannot do it, you would need to go and source that licence directly through your own self, and pay a significant fee to do so. In order to do that, the way that we get around that is because we have these ongoing licences and subscription fees for the licencing of music, it means that you're not hit with a massive licencing fee when you first get a theme song from us for your podcast, because it's all through our own business.

So copyright of music is a big deal. Copyright everywhere is a big deal. But it comes up a lot more commonly, in the way music is used in podcasting, and on YouTube. And those sorts of things. There's a lot more issues with that, than you having to worry about so much of a person stealing the stuff that you're doing on your podcast, and using it exactly in what they're doing. That happens pretty infrequently. And if it has happened to you, I'm very sorry to hear that. Definitely get a lawyer involved and make sure that that gets sorted out. Because there's nothing fun about you being copied. It is some form of props to you, though, as well. Because if someone has copied you, I would mean it would mean I would hope that they love what you're doing and that they feel it's so valuable that they also want to spread that thing. So maybe it's not malicious, maybe they don't understand what they're doing. But you know, always talk to a lawyer in that situation to make sure that you are protected. And that you can help there.

There's things that you can go further with from a copyright perspective. And there's things called trademarks, that's a different thing where you trademark like a logo or a brand or those sorts of things as well. I would recommend a podcast one of our clients has a podcast called rise up in business, Tracy Mylecharane. She is a small business lawyer, she has episodes on these things. And I will link to her show so that you can have a little bit of a listen as to those topics. Because there are certainly some things that you need to know and make sure that you're covered for if you want to take things further with your podcast.

If your podcast is really going off and you want merch and you want all sorts of things, then maybe you do need to trademark the logo type or you know the branding around that maybe you do so definitely have a look at what the difference between just copywriting your material is versus trademarking. From a music perspective. Like if you don't have someone looking after your show or an agency and you're trying to find music yourself, there are places that you can go to make sure that you're getting the right licences for things. So you can use services like art list.io, you can't get a single licence from Atlas just for a track, you can pay a subscription fee, you can go to places like music bed Epidemic Sound, if you want music, just one track and you want to licence that one specifically, you don't want any other licences, then I believe music bed has the ability for you to actually just licence one track and it's normally pull about 350 or so US dollars to do that. So it is significant, but it means you have the proper licence for that. But make sure that the use of that track is covered by that licence. So you have to read your terms and conditions in the licences to make sure that you don't overstep your boundaries there because those things can get really, really messy.

And as I mentioned, make sure you check out the podcast rise up in business by Tracy Mylecharane. She covers a bunch of different topics and if you have any questions around it, then reach out to her because she is a lawyer and she knows a lot of things. So she will be able to help you or point you in the direction that you need to be pointed in that way.

Thank you so much for joining me today on Pump Up Your Pod if you have any topics that you would like us to discuss when I say us I mean me it's never anyone else is it really. So if there's any topics that you hope that I would discuss, please just reach out send me a DM on Instagram if you like or you can email Hello at Bambi or you can put a topic in the pod lovers if you are in our free community. We get in there and ask a question and I can do a podcast episode on it. If you're not in the pod that was already What are you doing? Get in there the pod lovers.com And that is where I share curated information about podcasting. Thank you very much. Have a lovely week. I will speak to you next time, bye.