Who's Licensing Whom?

Boy, every time you turn around, there's a different take on using copyyrighted music in podcasts. Sam Whitmore with Forbes says he was encouraged by Warner Music and the Harry Fox Agency to keep on podcasting, playing the music he had already been playing without paying a fee to the publishers, although he does pay BMI and ASCAP. (He hosts Closet Deadhead podcast).

Sam also raises an interesting question on the use or manipulation of podcasts. He posits the idea of taking a political podcast, editing it, and making it sound like something entirely different than what was originally intended. Not to rain on your parade, Sam, but hell, disc jockeys and other clever human forms have been doing that with news casts and speeches for decades, so I don't think that's anything new...except the idea of doing it with a podcast. Podcasting: Making Waves - Forbes.com