ReelRadio, a radio-streaming site dedicated to historical "aircheck" demos, has come under fire from the Recording Industry Association of America, igniting a licensing squabble that places the site's future in doubt.

Founded in 1996, the site (which still looks like it's nearly 20 years old) streams "scoped" and "unscoped" announcer airchecks. On Wednesday, the site said it would suspend the streaming of unscoped content.

Scoped airchecks are edited and play an announcer's voice with the music removed and are fair use to stream. The unscoped ones, which include the music, are at the center of the dispute between the RIAA and the site's president, Richard Irwin. More than 1,147 "unscoped" airchecks are now unavailable following a copyright infringement and licensing flap with the recording studios.

In a message Wednesday, Irwin told ReelRadio fans:

On July 7, 2014, ReelRadio, Inc. received notice from the Recording Industry Association of America regarding non-compliance with conditions of our statutory license. The statutory license allows ReelRadio to stream music sound recordings heard in our "unscoped" airchecks. However, the statutory license requires licensees to observe specific conditions as to the transmission of musical programs online. The RIAA has determined that our service fails to meet the requirements for "archived programs," which must be at least five hours in duration and may not be made available for more than two weeks. The service must also display the Title, Artist and Album of each featured song, but only while the recording is being performed. You have probably seen this type of "online radio station" elsewhere on the Web. Obviously, we have no single airchecks with a duration of five hours, and our exhibits are permanent. Our current method for streaming content does not allow real-time metadata, such as artist and title, to be included in the media file. We have been asked to remedy these violations to continue operating under the statutory license. Further, the RIAA insists that we obtain permission from the copyright owners of these old radio broadcasts. Many broadcasters understand the difficulty of this requirement, since nearly all radio stations have changed ownership, format, and call letters, many times over. Nevertheless, we are expected to provide the RIAA with an explanation of how we have permission from radio stations that no longer exist and copyright owners who have no interest in historic recordings of their property. The law is too narrow and should obviously be amended to include genuine "historical archive" sites, like ReelRadio.

Irwin told listeners that Reel Radio might be able to meet the RIAA's demands, but the site's quality would suffer.

It may be possible to meet the requirements for archived programs, though available technology necessitates that existing airchecks be cut into smaller pieces. Sometimes, there will be an audible "skip", but every time a record plays, you'll know the title and artist, even if there is no album! Further, a system can be devised so that new exhibits and favorites are combined in a five-hour program that disappears after two weeks. Unfortunately, you will not be able to move around in such a file, and you won't be able to select what you want when you want it. While this might meet the requirements of the statutory license, it's not the way you have listened to ReelRadio. It also requires significantly more time to prepare, and has a greater chance of technical failure. It's not ideal, but it would work.

TorrentFreak has best summed up the dilemma:

"The RIAA has given ReelRadio until August 8 to provide its response and holds the ability to close the site entirely by suspending its license. Whether it will choose to do so remains to be seen, but it’s clear that if it does there will be no gain whatsoever to the RIAA, but a really big loss to history," TorrentFreak wrote. Legally the RIAA appears to be on solid ground, but the court of public opinion on preserving nostalgia is likely to see things quite differently."

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