The easiest way to get around copyright issues is to go to music.podshow.com. There is a lot of great stuff there.

If you want to play entire copyrighted songs, you have to get permission from whoever owns the masters. Sometimes this is the artists, sometimes it's a label. I have a friend who is an intellectual property lawyer and she gave me a brief rundown on how to remain legal. I know some people say that the RIAA isn't going to go after anyone anytime soon except I have a friend who already got a cease and desist order from a lawyer. He was covered though because the artist who owned the master said it was cool, but the ASCAP lawyer guy was not very happy. It's best to just stay legal because who wants to deal with lawyer BS. As long as you have something in writing saying it's ok, you should remain safe, but it's a pain to write and keep track of what's legal and what you can't play so for now, you might want to just stick with the Podshow Podsafe Music Network. I use it for about half the stuff I play.

Rubyfruit Radio- Where it's all girls, all the time.

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Hi guys.

In my podcasts, I do my own background music. I just whipped up my keyboard and did some loops.

However, I've been considering Podsafe Music Network.
http://music.podshow.com
I heard about this from TWIT podcast with Leo Laporte. I believe you can use all the music there without worrying about copyright.

Tell me if you guys will consider it. :-)

I highly suggest you start podcasting without worrying about copyright issues. Especially as a new podcaster, you wouldnt have staggering listenership numbers that would cause you to be noticed by the pathetic recording industry. Plus, they aren't really policing podcasts yet anyway... so keep things in perspective.. you're no threat to them.. enjoy yourself.

See my blog posting on this topic that I just put up...

http://qpodder.org/?q=node/130

Love and hugs,
Ms. Shenida

We went through the same sort of issues with our podcast. We were lucky enough to have a really good link to a regional musician, but other than that it sounds really difficult to play any other music on your podcasts. I think, according to the last things I read, you can only play music that you have specific releases to. We're trying to get around that by finding local new bands who just want to have their music heard by /someone/. They will usually sign a simple release. Parodies, I have no idea about, but have heard rumor that, as long as the background music is so much of a beat off, it's possible. I also think there is some 'loophole' followed by Club DJs in regards to mixing music. I'm trying to find out more about that, myself. I'll let you know if I find anything else out.