Broadcasting? Here's what you should know before starting your own radio club

 

Feeling like starting a radio club at your university? Maybe even a channel for broadcasting stuff you like?

Here's what you need to know:

There are several things you need to keep in mind before turning your microphone, livestream, or for analogue enthusiasts (if you still exist out there) because once you put any kind of transmission out on air and publicly accessible by anyone with the means to do it, there are things out there that you put out that are legally protected under the Malaysian Copyright Law.

Alright so... What counts as broadcasting?

Transmitting tangible media like audio and video content, either wirelessly or wired that can reach the public counts as broadcast.

So if you in any way, put out content that is live, it does in fact make you a broadcaster and can be protected by copyright law.

Permissions and ownership; what you can't do

Whichever content you choose to broadcast will also always have copyright laws applied to it, be it yours or someone else's.

If the content is original and is your own, then you own the copyright.

But if it's someone else's, you will need permission. Even if you're not profiting off of them and are only doing it as a club activity and have only 4 listeners or viewers from your dorm room.

Simply put: you can't broadcast music that isn't yours like movie clips, live performances, unless you are permitted to.

You can't even relay other broadcasts that are live as a proxy or past broadcasts like stuff coming from RTM, Astro, HyppTV (does that still exist?).

What can I broadcast then?

There's still many stuff you can broadcast without the use of copyrighted materials of others.

Mostly of your own content like original music (yours or your friend's that has consented to it being aired), maybe talk shows or podcast discussions, or interviews.

As for music, if you don't want to make your broadcast sound dull, you may use royalty-free music or Creative Commons licensed content. Maybe if you're lucky, some artists who are just starting out or is just going around having fun with their own stuff would want their music featured.

Videos? Some students would LOVE to have their hard work featured on the broadcast if it's a live stream or if they wish to have their work promoted and receive support. This could be short films, their own recorded shows, maybe a fun hobby they got into and want others to also get into their hobbies,

What if the content is REALLY old?

Depends on your definition of how retro and old the content is. For copyrighted content protected under the Malaysian law, anything that has aged 50 years from its initial creation can be used for broadcasts.

This also applies to your broadcasted content in the future.

Reactions, commentaries, and critique

For stuff like TV shows, movies, and clips, you can review and react to it with critique, having your own unique reaction to it or actively editing the content for purposes related to the previous points.

Maybe you'd like to do it with video games?

It would be depending on the publisher; though most modern gaming publishers do allow it, hence why you see a lot of mentions and gameplay of it online with or without commentary, but they are in fact legally protected and you must refer to the game publishers' rules about it.

Be smart about how you broadcast your content. The main appeal of broadcast is connecting with others, even if it's just one side doing the talking, in real time. Connect with them smartly, and abide by the copyright laws of Malaysia. Better be safe than sorry when you are caught broadcasting things that aren't yours without permission.