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Book DemoHow to Source Licensed Music for Your Radio Station
Struggling with radio music licensing? Discover how to simplify sourcing legal, broadcast-ready music for your radio station.
If you run a radio station, you’ve probably faced this challenge: where do you find music that’s legal to broadcast, sounds good, and is easy to manage?
Navigating music rights is more complicated than it should be. Understanding what licenses you need, where to get them, and how to use music legally in live shows or on-demand segments can feel like a full-time job. Add in the need for consistent branding with sweepers, intros, and promos, and it can quickly become too much to manage.
Some stations turn to stock music libraries. These are usually legal, but often lack personality. Others work directly with independent artists or producers, which means negotiating rights and permissions one by one. Even if you’re covered under a PRO license, that doesn’t always include usage for podcasts or recorded shows and creating custom imaging adds more time and cost.
Many broadcasters spend more time sorting out music rights and organising files than actually building their shows. That’s a tough trade-off, especially for small teams or new stations.
Why the Struggle Continues
Even experienced broadcasters run into the same problems. Licensing often feels unclear. It’s not always obvious what a license actually covers and you want content that fits your station’s sound, but finding and vetting it takes time. Once you have what you need, uploading and organising it can feel like its own project.
What helps is having a single source for verified, broadcast-ready content. That’s where Syndicast starts to help.
How Syndicast Bridges the Gap
Syndicast is built for radio. It gives licensed stations access to music and branding tools from more than 200 record labels. You don’t need to spend hours clearing tracks or producing audio branding as it’s all available in one place.
You’ll find music from labels like Toolroom, Defected, and Armada. There are weekly DJ shows, mixes and station imaging like intros, sweepers, and jingles. You can browse by genre, including electronic, chill, house, pop, and more.
All content is pre-cleared. Once your station license is verified, everything on the platform is ready to use.
Understanding Music Licensing
Music licensing ensures that artists and rights holders are fairly compensated when their music is used. For radio stations, it’s not enough to just have a track, you need the correct license to broadcast it. That license must align with your country’s regulations and your station’s format (live, on demand, internet, FM, etc.).
Licensing requirements can vary dramatically based on region. For instance, what’s legal for broadcast in the UK under PRS and PPL might not be valid in the US, where you’d deal with ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and SoundExchange.
Useful links for different territories:
UK: PRS for Music, PPL UK
USA: ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, SoundExchange
Australia: APRA AMCOS
Canada: SOCAN
Licenses generally fall into a few categories:
Public Performance: Required for playing music publicly (e.g., on the radio).
Mechanical: Needed if you reproduce music (e.g., downloads or CDs).
Synchronization: Required if you pair music with video or imagery.
Even if you’ve purchased music or received it from an artist, that doesn’t automatically mean you have the right to broadcast it. Platforms like Syndicast simplify this by only offering content that’s already cleared for use, reducing your legal risk.
It’s crucial to verify that your station has the right license for your territory and medium. Using unlicensed music could lead to takedown notices, blocked content, or even legal action.
If you want to go deeper, this help guide explains more about music licensing and royalties.
Where Radio.co Fits In
Radio.co is where you manage your station. It takes care of scheduling, automation, streaming, and live shows. It’s designed to simplify broadcasting.
When used together, Syndicast and Radio.co make sourcing and managing content simpler. You download from Syndicast, upload to Radio.co, and schedule it. Everything fits into one workflow.
Task | Old Way | With Radio.co and Syndicast |
Music sourcing | Multiple sites, varied rights | One platform, pre-cleared content |
Branding | Custom production or outsourcing | Instant downloads available |
Scheduling | Manual uploads and checks | Drop into playlists, automate shows |
Licensing | Ongoing research, legal uncertainty | One-time verification |
For most stations, this setup saves time and makes things easier to manage.
Licensing Made Clear
Syndicast checks your broadcast license before giving access. Once you’re approved, all content on the platform is cleared for use. There’s no need to check each file individually or chase down usage terms.
Still figuring out what license you need? Start with our licensing guide. If you need help finding music legally, this article is a useful place to begin.
How to Get Started
Sign up at Syndicast, submit your license information, and wait for approval. Once verified, download the tracks or branding content you need. Then upload to your Radio.co library and schedule them into your station.
If you need help, our setup guide walks through the process step-by-step.
Already Using One But Not the Other?
If you're already using Radio.co but haven’t tried Syndicast, you’re missing out on a useful source of licensed, professional content. If you’re using Syndicast but not Radio.co, you may be working harder than you need to when it comes to uploading and managing shows.
How Stations Are Using It
Stations use Syndicast to keep their content fresh. Weekly DJ mixes help fill airtime without extra effort and genre-specific promos give stations a polished sound without the need to hire outside help.
Whether your format is niche or mainstream, having access to content that matches your station’s tone makes broadcasting way easier. Because everything is licensed and broadcast-ready, you can skip the legal research and focus on your shows.
If you want help with building your schedule, this guide is a great place to start.
Final Thoughts
Managing music and branding shouldn’t take more time than creating your actual shows, but for many stations, it does. Licensing is confusing, content is scattered and tools don’t always work well together.
Syndicast and Radio.co make the process simpler. Together, they give you access to reliable content and tools that reduce the admin side of broadcasting.
🎧 Try it for yourself → Visit Syndicast
