Download or stream a podcast today and it would not be uncommon to hear music, if only interstitially and in short segments. For the most part, however, those streams and downloads are not counted for the purposes of calculating and paying any royalties the music rights owner(s) might otherwise be due. Instead, most music used in podcasts today, where its licensed at all, is licensed on a royalty-free basis, often from stock houses or production-music catalogs, through a single, upfront payment that allows unlimited use of the music in podcast episodes for a specified period of time. As no backend royalties need to be paid, no effort is made to report back to the music rights owner how many times an episode is downloaded or streamed.
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