Copyright, Community Radio, and Change: How the U.S. Community Radio Sector is Negotiating Changing Copyright Rules and the Rollout of Digital Distribution

Radio has been regulated in the United States by the Federal Communications Commission, and previously the Federal Radio Commission, since the 1920s. Now, community radio operators and producers find themselves operating within a range of regulatory frameworks, depending on the platforms (over-the-air or online) on which they place their content. This article reviews how the impact of copyright regulation on community radio is changing as that sector expands into internet distribution. The article draws on a number of case studies of U.S.-based community radio stations, and forms part of a larger study of the changing structure of that sector. A significant lesson from this case study is a better understanding of the manner in which community stations are not only negotiating the platforms on which they distribute their content, based in large part on regulatory constraints on different platforms, but also are often fringe actors in policy debates dominated by larger economic groupings, such as corporate broadcasters and recording industry lobby groups.