Copyright

If you want to use pre-recorded music (music you didn't write and perform yourself) in a podcast it is important to first consider how and why you are using it. If you want to play the entire song uninterrupted, you would most likely be violating the copyright of the person who owns the music.

However, if you play a short clip of a song amounting to no more than 30 seconds and you go on to discuss some aspect of the song (its relevance to the topic of your podcast, etc.) then your use of the song would likely be allowed under a number of the Fair Dealing purposes in the Copyright Act.

For simplicity, we advise whenever possible that you use music published under a Creative Commons license (see the Sources You Can Use section of our Copyright for Students page).

Any use of traditionally copyright protected music should be kept to as brief a snippet as possible and be relevant in some way to the content of your podcast. Remember to cite the source of any copyright protected music that you use.