I live in Australia. I recently bought some hosting for a ShoutCast radio stream with a server in the UK. Naively, I thought that licensing would be a simple matter. When I looked in to it more closely, I realised that I have to get two different licenses for two different types in of copyright in order to discourage the copyright holders from suing me. It turns out that the hosting and two licenses will cost me about $2,000 US per year. But, the licenses barely allow me to scratch my balls. I can't collect revenue at all so I can't even ask for donations to help me cover costs. And, this option will probably mean I can only stream in Australia. I won't be able to stream in other countries.

It will be in the interest of the artists to get their songs on this stream because I will have live updating ads directed at their online stores when their tracks come up.

Right now, I'm looking at my options and trying to figure out a way to get this radio station going without personally forking out $2,000 per year.

So, here a the few options that seem to be floating around:

1) Fork out $2,000 per year. Ouch

2) Only play free music that the copyright holders agree to have on air (this will probably mean making them sign something)

3) Move the server to the US and buy a license through something like http://www.streamli…"]StreamLicensing.com - Internet Radio Stations[/]="http://www.streamli…"]StreamLicensing.com - Internet Radio Stations[/] . The downside of this (from my understanding) is that I could only play artists who have agreements with the US regulatory body and I still wouldn't be covered for audiences outside the US from what I understand.

I'm really stuck. Are there any other options? Has anyone got experience with online Radio stations? I really want to do this and I'm willing to pay money. I just don't want to pay $2,000 per year, and I don't want to get sued.