VocaListener Radio & Open Letter to KarenT

For those of you who do not know I own the domain VocaListener.com and have been wanting to make an online radio station out of it for a while. It want it be like 91.8 The Fan with live DJs, various themed shows, and completely legal, except for instead of occasionally featuring Vocaloid music I wanted to focus on Vocaloid exclusively. Beyond just focusing on Vocaloid music I wanted to introduce Vocaloid fans to new producers and if possible shoehorn Engloids in whenever possible.

Now I could have taken the pirate route like so many other stations online but I wanted everything to be legit and something I could be proud of later on. I researched online and found about how I could legally found my own radio station, without specific permission from the artists and labels, under the Statutory Licence of the U.S. Copyright Office. It would require me to pay hundreds of dollars in fees/royalties but it would be legal.

Now I have no problem doing this because services like Live 365 exist that handle royalties and allow small time broadcasters to legally start their own radio stations for as little as $4/mo. The thing is all the money I would be paying in royalties to SoundExchange, the online radio royalties board, would likely never reach the artists they are intended for #1 because the artists are all in Japan and #2 SoundExchange was sponsored by the RIAA which KarenT is not a member of.

After months of stalling and rather approach producers individually which is a daunting task, and reason for the statutory licence, I figured I would reach out to KarenT & Crypton Future Media concerning the issue. As they are notoriously hard to contact and because I only speak English I am posting this letter publicly in hopes that it reaches them along with forwarding it to their YouTube, Twitter, and every contact point I can think of.

You can read my full email to KarenT after the break:

To: KarenT & Crypton Future Media

I am interested in starting an internet radio station with the purpose of spreading and promoting Vocaloid music in the west. This will not be a commercial endeavour and the stream will likely cap at 25-50 listeners at once. I would like to do this legally.

In the United States I am allowed to legally to start my own radio station under a statutory license of the U.S. Copyright Office as long as I pay fees & royalties to SoundExchange who is in turn supposed to compensate both the labels and the artists.

I am worried that if I go this route, the artists that are based in Japan will not recieve any of the money I am obliged to pay SoundExchange. While SoundExchange and the statutory licence is one path it is not the only one, I can also make a deal directly with the rights holders that supersedes the statutory licence.

I am contacting you today to see if I could negotiate a deal directly with KarenT concerning music licencing for the purpose of a small time non-profit online radio station.