Podcast and Audio Production Checklist: Show Name Clearance, Music and Sound Licensing, Guest Releases, Clip and Fair Use Review, and Distribution Terms

By Casey Scott McKay · 2023-11-16

This checklist runs an audio series from the naming decision to the archive, in the order the decisions arise and with gates at the points where a show should stop. It covers the name search and Class 41 filing that most shows never do, the domain and feed control that decide whether an audience can be kept, the assignments from composers, editors, and co-hosts that determine who owns the work, the music licence scope questions that catch shows out when they add video and clips, and a guest release process triggered by exposure rather than applied universally. It then covers clip and archival clearance, quarterly group registration inside the statutory window, advertising disclosure obligations, and the three deal terms that decide the outcome of any network or platform arrangement. It closes with a remediation sequence for a show that has been running for years without any of it.

IP and Technology > Copyright | Checklist | Published 16 November 2023 - Updated 5 July 2026 | Casey Scott McKay - marksy.us

Summary. This checklist runs an audio series from the naming decision to the archive, with gates at the points where a show should stop. It covers the name search and Class 41 filing most shows never do, the domain and feed control that decide whether an audience can be kept, the assignments that determine who owns the work, the music licence scope questions that catch shows out when they add video and clips, a guest release process triggered by exposure rather than applied universally, clip and archival clearance, quarterly group registration, advertising disclosure, and the three deal terms that decide any network arrangement.

Keywords: podcast checklist · show name clearance · Class 41 registration · RSS feed ownership · music licence scope · production library terms · composer assignment · guest release · right of publicity · clip and fair use review · group copyright registration · FTC endorsement disclosure · network agreement terms · archival audio · errors and omissions insurance

How to use this checklist

| Phase | What it establishes | Who runs it | Gate | |---|---|---|---| | 1. Name | Whether the show can keep its name | Counsel | Cleared and filed before launch | | 2. Feed | Whether the audience can be kept | Producer | Feed on an owned domain, episode one | | 3. Contributors | Who owns the work | Counsel | Signed assignments before release | | 4. Music | Whether every medium is covered | Producer | Media scope checked against actual use | | 5. Guests | Whether re-use and removal are controlled | Producer | Release used whenever a trigger applies | | 6. Clips | Whether unlicensed use is defensible | Counsel | Decorative use licensed or cut | | 7. Registration | Whether a claim is worth bringing | Counsel | Filed within three months of publication | | 8. Advertising | Whether disclosure is adequate | Producer | Spoken, before the read | | 9. Deals | Whether the show survives the relationship | Counsel | Mark, feed, masters settled first | | 10. Remediation | What an existing archive is worth | Counsel | Honest schedule, not an assurance |

The matter. A twice-weekly interview show is in its third year, has a sponsor, and has been approached by a network. The theme was written by a friend of the host with no agreement. The feed sits on the producer's hosting account, at the hosting provider's domain. Music comes from a library subscription that lapsed eight months ago. No guest has signed anything. The show name has never been searched, and no episode has been registered. The network's counsel has asked for a chain of title.

Phase 1. Clear and file the show name

[ ] Run a knockout search across the federal register, state registers, common law sources, domains, and — critically — the podcast directories themselves, where the collisions actually are and where no trademark search will find them.
[ ] Assess under 15 U.S.C. § 1052(d), remembering that Class 41 entertainment services is crowded.
[ ] File in Class 41 for the ongoing series, and in Class 9 for downloadable recordings and the goods classes for any merchandise.
[ ] Address the single-work refusal. A title of a single creative work does not function as a mark; a series does. Present the show as ongoing, with a specimen identifying the series rather than one episode.
[ ] Secure the domain and the handles at the same time.
[ ] [Gate] Clear before launch, not before growth. A rebrand at episode three hundred costs search position, back-catalogue association, and a substantial part of the audience; the clearance costs an afternoon.

Phase 2. Take control of the feed

[ ] Register a domain the show owns, and publish the RSS feed on it from episode one.
- Why. A feed on a hosting provider's domain cannot be redirected; a feed on an owned domain can move to any host and subscribers follow.
- Trap. This is the only genuinely irreversible decision in podcasting, and it is made casually.
[ ] Hold the hosting account in the name of the owning entity, with credentials known to more than one person.
[ ] Hold the masters: edited episodes, raw recordings, stems, and artwork, in storage the show controls.
[ ] Write feed and domain control into every agreement, with transition obligations on termination.
[ ] [Gate] Do not sign a production or network agreement leaving the feed on the counterparty's domain. It decides whether the show survives the relationship, and it is rarely the term that gets negotiated.

Phase 3. Sign everyone who contributes

[ ] Understand the default. Under 17 U.S.C. § 201 the author owns the copyright; work made for hire under 17 U.S.C. § 101 is narrow for commissioned works; and Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid, 490 U.S. 730 (1989), makes the contractor question turn on agency factors rather than labels.
[ ] Use express assignments in signed writings as 17 U.S.C. § 204 requires.
[ ] The composer. Assign both the composition and the master. Reserve credit, live performance, personal release rights, and any re-use fee to the composer.
- Trap. The theme commissioned from a friend for a fee, with no paper, is owned by the friend — and it is the first thing a buyer asks about.
[ ] The editor, producer, and sound designer. Assignment plus confidentiality covering unpublished material and guest identities.
[ ] The cover artist. Assignment covering merchandise and marketing, not only the feed image.
[ ] The co-host. Ownership of the show, the mark, the feed, and the archive, plus what happens on separation.
- Why. Absent an agreement the episodes are a joint work, each owner may licence non-exclusively subject to accounting, and the separation becomes a simultaneous dispute over the name, the feed, and the catalogue.
[ ] [Gate] Have the co-host conversation on day one, when nobody minds, rather than at the point of separation, when everybody does.

Phase 4. Choose and verify the music source

[ ] Understand why commercial music is unavailable. A podcast makes copies, so the compulsory mechanical licence in 17 U.S.C. § 115 does not apply, and two individually negotiated permissions are required: a synchronisation-style licence from the publisher for the composition and a master use licence from the recording owner under 17 U.S.C. § 114.
- Trap. Neither is compulsory and either can be refused. Silence from a label is a refusal in practice.
[ ] Adopt a production library or commission original music, and read the licence for the following.
[ ] Media scope. Podcast only, or podcast plus video, plus social clips, plus paid promotion.
- Why. Most shows now publish across all four, and most library licences default to fewer.
[ ] Territory. Worldwide, or restricted — which matters at the point of international distribution.
[ ] Term. Perpetual for content published during the licence, or expiring.
[ ] Subscription survival. Whether the licence for content published during a subscription survives cancellation.
- Trap. A show scored under a lapsed subscription that did not survive has an infringing archive, and this is one of the most common defects found in diligence.
[ ] Performing rights registration of the library tracks, and what that means for platforms that report usage.
[ ] Keep a per-episode record: track identifier and licence reference.
[ ] [Gate] Do not use commercial catalogue music without both licences in hand — not for a cold open, not under credits, not for five seconds.

Phase 5. Run a proportionate guest release process

[ ] Apply the four triggers. Substantial editing that could be characterised as distorting; sensitive material; re-use beyond the episode in books, live shows, compilations, video, or clips; or a show commercially significant enough to be worth suing.
- Why. A universal process is ignored within a month and provides worse protection than a targeted one that is actually followed.
[ ] Cover in the release: consent to record; a grant of rights in the contribution sufficient for the show's uses in all media, worldwide, in perpetuity; consent to use of name, likeness, voice, and biography in the episode and its promotion; a right of publicity release, which is separate from copyright and governed by state law; and an acknowledgement that editorial control rests with the producer with no approval or withdrawal right.
[ ] Address the practical terms: what the guest may re-post, whether a preview copy is provided and whether that creates an approval expectation, and how removal requests are handled.
[ ] Handle the special cases. A guest reading prepared remarks or performing a work contributes a separate copyrighted work; a musician performing live in studio engages 17 U.S.C. § 1101; and a minor requires a parent or guardian signature.
[ ] Note the defamation position. The producer publishes what the guest says, republication is publication, and 47 U.S.C. § 230 protects the platform hosting the show rather than the producer who solicited, recorded, edited, and published the statement.
[ ] [Gate] Expect the removal request. With a release the show chooses; without one it negotiates from nothing — and choosing to remove an episode on the merits is still often the right answer.

Phase 6. Review every clip

[ ] Sort into three categories.
[ ] Commentary. The show discusses the material and plays a portion to support the discussion. The strongest position under 17 U.S.C. § 107, provided no more is used than the point requires.
[ ] Parody. Comment on the original itself under Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569 (1994), distinguishable from satire, which needs its own justification.
[ ] Decoration. Music under a monologue, a film line for a laugh, archival audio for atmosphere. Licence it or cut it, because after Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith, 598 U.S. 508 (2023), the absence of a further purpose weighs heavily against use for the work's own expressive value.
[ ] Record the analysis: category, source, duration, purpose, and who decided.
- Why. A contemporaneous note is evidence of good faith and materially affects a willfulness argument.
[ ] Note the sampling split. Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films, 410 F.3d 792 (6th Cir. 2005), applies no de minimis exception to sound recordings; VMG Salsoul, LLC v. Ciccone, 824 F.3d 871 (9th Cir. 2016), does.
[ ] For archival audio, establish the position individually. Pre-1972 recordings under 17 U.S.C. § 1401; institutional deposit terms distinct from copyright; and separate rights in the underlying work, the fixation, and the performance.
[ ] [Gate] Reject any duration rule. There is no seven-second rule and no percentage safe harbour, and the belief that there is causes most unlicensed use in this medium.

Phase 7. Register on a calendar

[ ] Understand what registration buys. It is a precondition to suit under 17 U.S.C. § 411, and Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC, 586 U.S. 296 (2019), requires that the Office have acted before an action is brought.
[ ] Diarise the window. 17 U.S.C. § 412 conditions statutory damages and attorney fees on registration before infringement or within three months of first publication.
- Why. Outside the window a claim is worth actual damages, which are difficult to prove and rarely worth pursuing.
[ ] Use a group registration option appropriate to the publication pattern, quarterly, rather than episode by episode or not at all.
[ ] Register the artwork and the theme separately, since they are separately exploited and separately infringed.
[ ] Retain the deposit copies.
[ ] [Gate] Put the quarterly filing on the calendar with an owner. It is the item that silently determines what every future claim is worth.

Phase 8. Handle advertising disclosure

[ ] Treat host reads as endorsements under the Endorsement Guides at 16 C.F.R. Part 255, enforced under 15 U.S.C. § 45.
[ ] Disclose in speech, clearly, before the endorsement.
- Trap. A line in the show notes is not a disclosure in an audio medium, and a disclosure after the claim is not before it.
[ ] Confirm the endorsement reflects honest opinion and, where implied, actual experience. "I use this every day" is a representation of fact.
[ ] Confirm substantiation for every claim, noting the obligation reaches the host regardless of who wrote the copy, and that health, earnings, and comparative claims are the recurring problems.
[ ] Read the insertion order, resisting indemnities running from producer to advertiser for claims the advertiser drafted.
[ ] Identify regulated categories — supplements, financial services, alcohol, cannabis, gambling — each of which brings rules that arrive through the advertiser and are frequently not explained.
[ ] Keep the recording of what was actually said, because the enforcement question is the read rather than the script.
[ ] [Gate] Write a standing disclosure script and use it, rather than relying on the host to phrase it each time.

Phase 9. Negotiate the three terms that matter

[ ] Identify the structure. Advertising representation; network; platform exclusive; or commissioned show.
[ ] Settle ownership of the mark. Who owns the registration, and what happens to it on exit.
[ ] Settle control of the feed and the domain, with transition obligations.
[ ] Settle possession of the masters, the raw recordings, and the archive.
[ ] Then negotiate the revenue split.
- Trap. Producers argue percentages for weeks and accept the rights terms as drafted, which is exactly backwards: the split governs a few years of income and the rights terms govern whether there is a show afterwards.
[ ] For a platform exclusive, ask what reverts, in what condition, and with what subscriber base at the end of the term.
[ ] For a commissioned show, document a services arrangement with credit, re-use fees, and any restriction on the host's competing activity stated expressly.
[ ] Check exclusivity, minimum guarantees, and category vetoes in any representation deal.
[ ] [Gate] Read the exit provisions before the term provisions.

Phase 10. Cover the second life of an episode

[ ] Check the music licence media terms against video posting, vertical social clips, and paid promotion.
[ ] Check the guest release covers video and promotional clips, not only the audio episode.
[ ] Re-run the clip analysis for the video version, which is exposed to automated content matching that audio distribution is not.
[ ] Confirm ownership of transcripts, which are derivative works of the episode and the show's most valuable search asset.
[ ] Read the terms of every transcription and editing service before uploading an archive, particularly where the service reserves rights to use submitted audio for model training.
- Trap. Interviews recorded under confidentiality, or with releases predating any such use, should not be uploaded to those services.
[ ] Address synthetic voice expressly in host and performer agreements: scope, duration, approval, and revocability.
- Why. A perpetual, irrevocable grant of a voice model appears in more agreements than it should and should be resisted.
[ ] Extend the trademark registration to merchandise classes before a third party files for them.

Phase 11. Remediate an existing show

[ ] Feed and name first, because they are fixable. Move the feed to an owned domain; clear and file the name; and if it cannot be cleared, decide the rebrand now rather than at episode six hundred.
[ ] Then the theme. A retrospective assignment from the composer is usually obtainable and cheap, and it is the first question a buyer asks.
[ ] Then the contractors. A short confirmatory assignment covering past work is standard and rarely refused.
[ ] Then the music. Reconstruct usage from the production records, match against the licences that exist, and triage the unsupported episodes into re-scoring, muting, or removal.
- Note. Re-scoring an old episode is cheaper than most producers expect.
[ ] Then the guests, triaged by exposure: sensitive material, promotional use, and episodes a buyer intends to exploit.
[ ] Register the back catalogue, accepting that section 412 remedies are lost for past infringements while registration remains the precondition to suit.
[ ] Assess errors and omissions insurance, increasingly required by distributors and unobtainable without a clearance file.
[ ] [Gate] Produce an honest schedule — clean, contingent, unsupported — rather than an assurance.
- Why. A buyer given a schedule discounts a defined number of episodes; a buyer given an assurance that fails renegotiates the entire deal.

Outcome. At the end of this checklist a show should be able to demonstrate: that it owns and has filed its name; that the feed sits on a domain it controls and can be moved at will; that every contributor has assigned what they made; that every episode's music is covered for every medium in which the show publishes; that guest releases exist wherever exposure requires them; that every clip was categorised and the reasoning recorded; that episodes are registered inside the statutory window; that sponsorships are disclosed in speech and the reads retained; and that any network arrangement settles the mark, the feed, and the masters. A show that can demonstrate those things has an archive worth selling, licensing, adapting, and insuring. A show that cannot has three hundred audio files, an audience it may not be able to keep, and no way to prove it owns any of it.

Phase 12. Working the matter in the opening example

Applied to the show described above, the checklist produces a short list, in a strict order, and most of it is achievable before the network conversation concludes.

[ ] The feed is the emergency. It sits on the producer's account at the provider's domain, which means the audience belongs to the producer. Register a domain, redirect the feed, and confirm the redirect resolves before anything else is discussed.
[ ] The lapsed subscription is the second emergency. Eight months of episodes were scored under a licence that may not have survived cancellation. Read the terms; if it did not survive, triage those episodes into re-scoring, muting, or removal, and reinstate a subscription whose terms cover video and clips.
[ ] The theme is the first diligence question, and a retrospective assignment from the host's friend is usually obtainable for a modest fee. Do it before the network asks.
[ ] The name has never been searched. Run the search now, including the directories. If it is clear, file in Class 41 as a series. If it is not, the network conversation and the rebrand conversation are the same conversation.
[ ] No episode is registered. Statutory damages are gone for past infringements, and a group registration filed now still supplies the precondition to suit under 17 U.S.C. § 411 and preserves remedies for anything infringed after filing. Start the quarterly calendar.
[ ] No guest has signed anything. Triage by exposure and by what the network intends to exploit, and adopt the trigger-based release for everything going forward.
[ ] [Gate] Then produce the honest schedule for the network — clean episodes, contingent episodes, and unsupported episodes — because that is a discount on a defined number, and an assurance that fails is a renegotiation of everything.

Phase 13. Enforcement when the show is copied

[ ] Identify the pattern. Whole-episode re-uploads to video platforms; aggregators republishing the feed with inserted advertising; clip accounts monetising excerpts.
[ ] Send compliant notices under 17 U.S.C. § 512, with all statutory elements, because platforms reject deficient notices and deprioritise inaccurate senders.
[ ] Note section 512(f) exposure for knowing material misrepresentation, and check the position before sending rather than after.
[ ] Use the trademark as well as the copyright where the infringing account uses the show's name and artwork, since brand registries often act faster than copyright teams.
[ ] Check the aggregator's claimed licence against the directory terms it relies on, which frequently do not authorise republication with inserted advertising.
[ ] Consider the Copyright Claims Board for disputes within its damages cap, which matches the scale of most podcast claims better than federal litigation.
[ ] Prepare for the reverse position. When an automated system flags an episode, the per-episode licence record is the response, and a counter-notice under section 512(g) exposes the sender to jurisdiction — so file it on evidence, not on confidence.
[ ] [Gate] Confirm the clearance record exists before filing any counter-notice.

Phase 14. Narrative and documentary series

[ ] Treat it as documentary production, not broadcasting. The clearance workload is comparable to film and the budget line should be too.
[ ] Establish the position on every piece of archival audio individually: pre-1972 recordings under 17 U.S.C. § 1401; institutional deposit terms distinct from copyright; and separate rights in the underlying work, the fixation, and the performance.
[ ] Obtain interview releases during production, drafted in contemplation of a finished programme that may portray the subject unfavourably.
- Why. A release sought after publication is a release that will not be given.
[ ] Address recreated audio and voice performance: script authorship, performer rights, and synthetic voice consent where used.
[ ] Budget for continuous scoring, because a licence covering a few cues per episode will not cover a narrative series.
[ ] Build the clearance file in a form a distributor's counsel can read, episode by episode, as production proceeds.
[ ] [Gate] Confirm errors and omissions cover is obtainable before committing to a distribution deal that requires it. The cover depends on the clearance file, and the file cannot be assembled retrospectively.

Phase 15. Merchandise, live shows, and adaptation

[ ] Extend the trademark registration to the goods classes actually sold, before a third party files.
[ ] Confirm the cover artist's assignment covers merchandise, not only the feed image.
[ ] Treat live shows as separate performances, with venue terms, guest releases, and any music performed all requiring their own analysis before a live recording is released as an episode.
[ ] Confirm the underlying rights are clean before optioning a book, film, or television adaptation, because the option negotiation will surface every gap in the guest releases and contractor assignments at once.
[ ] For membership feeds, settle who owns the subscriber relationship if the show leaves the platform.
[ ] For sponsored series and branded content, apply 16 C.F.R. Part 255 proportionately to a whole sponsored programme rather than to a spot.
[ ] For international distribution, check the territorial scope of every music licence in the catalogue.

Phase 16. The documents this checklist should leave behind

[ ] A clearance search and filing record for the show name, with the Class 41 application and any goods classes.
[ ] Domain and hosting account records in the owning entity's name, with credentials held by more than one person.
[ ] Signed assignments from the composer, artist, editor, producer, and every co-host.
[ ] A co-host or founder agreement covering the show, the mark, the feed, the archive, and separation.
[ ] A music licence file with media and territory scope, survival position, and a per-episode track record.
[ ] A guest release template, the trigger criteria, and the signed releases.
[ ] A clip log: source, duration, category, purpose, and decision-maker.
[ ] A registration calendar with quarterly group filings and retained deposits.
[ ] An advertising file: insertion orders, approved copy, the standing disclosure script, and the recordings of the reads.
[ ] A deal file with the mark, feed, and masters terms flagged in every agreement.
[ ] A per-episode clearance record tying it together.

Eleven items, ten minutes an episode, and the whole of the difference between an archive worth selling and a folder of audio files.

A note on proportion

A hobby show with fifty listeners needs the domain and nothing else. Requiring releases, quarterly registrations, and licence scope reviews from such a producer produces advice that will be ignored, at a cost to credibility for the moment it matters.

The threshold is money or reach: sponsorship, a network conversation, merchandise, or an audience large enough to attract attention.

Two items apply regardless. The domain, because it cannot be retrofitted without losing subscribers. And the name search, because a collision found at episode three hundred costs the audience.

Everything else can wait until the show is worth protecting, and most of it takes an afternoon on the day that becomes true.

Phase 17. A working calendar

[ ] Before episode one. Domain purchased and feed published on it. Name searched and filed in Class 41. Composer, artist, and co-host signed. Music source chosen and its media terms read. Guest release template and trigger criteria adopted. Standing disclosure script written.
[ ] Weekly, per episode. Record the music tracks and licence reference; the guest release where triggered; the clip category and analysis where any clip was used; and the sponsor copy as approved and as read.
[ ] Quarterly. File the group registration inside the three-month window. Reconcile music licence usage. Review any new distribution surface — video, clips, membership, international — against the existing licences.
[ ] Annually. Confirm trademark status and renewal dates. Review any network or representation agreement against the mark, feed, and masters terms. Audit archive storage and credentials. Refresh the guest release template against any new re-use the show has begun.
[ ] On any deal. Settle the mark, the feed, and the masters before the split, and read the exit provisions before the term provisions.
[ ] On any incident. Compliant notice under 17 U.S.C. § 512 for re-uploads; the per-episode licence record for any content match; the recording of the read for any advertising question.

A closing note

Nothing in this checklist is difficult, and almost none of it is doctrinal. It is a domain, a search, five short assignments, one licence read properly, a release used when it matters, a note per clip, a quarterly filing, a spoken disclosure, and three terms negotiated before the split.

The reason it goes undone is that none of it feels like a decision at the time it is made. Buying a domain, signing a friend who wrote the theme, and reading the media scope of a music subscription are administrative acts performed — or not — by people thinking about the next episode.

They become decisions retrospectively, at the point a network asks for a chain of title, a guest asks for a takedown, a registered owner asks about the name, or a producer relationship ends and the feed does not follow.

The whole of the value here is in doing the ten-minute version every week, so that the day the show becomes worth something, it turns out to be worth something.

Phase 18. Questions to put to the producer

[ ] "What domain does your feed resolve from?" If the answer is the hosting provider's, that is the first finding and everything else waits.
[ ] "Who wrote the theme, and what did they sign?" Almost always a friend, and almost always nothing.
[ ] "Show me the music licence." Then read the media scope against where the show actually publishes, and check whether it survives cancellation.
[ ] "Has anyone ever asked to have an episode removed?" The answer indicates how much release exposure the archive carries.
[ ] "What did you search before choosing the name?" Usually the directories, informally, and usually not the register.
[ ] "How many episodes are registered?" Usually none, and the quarterly calendar starts today.
[ ] "Where do you say the sponsorship disclosure?" If the answer is the show notes, that is not a disclosure in an audio medium.
[ ] "If your co-host left tomorrow, who keeps the name?" The answer is whatever was written down, and if nothing was written down the answer is a dispute.

[ ] "Where are the raw recordings stored, and who can reach them?" If the answer is the editor's personal drive, the archive is one relationship away from disappearing.
[ ] "Have you uploaded the back catalogue to any transcription or editing service?" And if so, what did its terms say about training on submitted audio, and were any of those interviews recorded in confidence?
[ ] "What does the network draft say about the mark and the feed?" Ask before the split has been agreed, because that is the only point at which the answer can still change.

[ ] "And if I asked you tomorrow to prove you own this show, what would you send me?" The honest answer to that question is the whole of this checklist in a sentence, and most producers have never been asked it.

Key Authorities at a Glance

| Authority | Proposition | Where it bites | |---|---|---| | 15 U.S.C. § 1052(d) | Likelihood of confusion refusal | Phase 1 | | 15 U.S.C. § 1051 | Application requirements | Phase 1 | | 17 U.S.C. § 201 | Initial ownership | Phase 3 | | 17 U.S.C. § 101 | Work made for hire; joint works | Phase 3 | | 17 U.S.C. § 204 | Signed writing for transfers | Phase 3 | | Cmty. for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid, 490 U.S. 730 (1989) | Employee versus contractor | Phase 3 | | 17 U.S.C. § 106 | Exclusive rights | Phase 4 | | 17 U.S.C. § 114 | Sound recording rights | Phase 4 | | 17 U.S.C. § 115 | Mechanical compulsory licence | Does not reach podcasts | | 17 U.S.C. § 1101 | Anti-bootlegging | Phase 5 | | 47 U.S.C. § 230 | Interactive service immunity | Protects the platform, not the producer | | 17 U.S.C. § 107 | Fair use | Phase 6 | | Andy Warhol Found. for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith, 598 U.S. 508 (2023) | Purpose and character | Decorative use | | Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569 (1994) | Parody versus satire | Phase 6 | | Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films, 410 F.3d 792 (6th Cir. 2005) | No de minimis for recordings | Phase 6 | | VMG Salsoul, LLC v. Ciccone, 824 F.3d 871 (9th Cir. 2016) | De minimis applies | Phase 6 | | 17 U.S.C. § 1401 | Pre-1972 sound recordings | Archival audio | | 17 U.S.C. § 411 | Registration precondition to suit | Phase 7 | | Fourth Estate Pub. Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC, 586 U.S. 296 (2019) | Office must have acted | Phase 7 | | 17 U.S.C. § 412 | Statutory damages and fees | Phase 7 | | 17 U.S.C. § 512 | Notice and takedown | Enforcement | | 16 C.F.R. Part 255 | Endorsement Guides | Phase 8 | | 15 U.S.C. § 45 | FTC Act | Phase 8 | | 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a) | False endorsement | Synthetic voice; guest imagery |

The five things people get wrong

One: leaving the feed on someone else's domain. Every directory, app, and subscriber points at the RSS address, and a feed at a hosting provider's domain cannot be redirected. When the producer relationship ends, the audience stays with the producer and the show is simply gone. A domain costs ten dollars and takes five minutes, and it is the only genuinely irreversible decision in podcasting.

Two: believing there is a duration rule for clips. There is no seven-second rule, no thirty-second rule, and no percentage safe harbour. 17 U.S.C. § 107 has four factors and none of them is length in isolation — and after Warhol, using a work for its own expressive value with no further purpose is a weak position at any duration. Sort every clip into commentary, parody, or decoration, and licence or cut the third.

Three: the theme nobody papered. A friend writes the music, a fee is paid, no agreement is signed, and the friend owns the show's most recognisable asset in both the composition and the recording. It is a one-page assignment under 17 U.S.C. § 204, it costs nothing at the time, and it is the first item on every buyer's diligence list.

Four: a universal guest release, or none at all. Requiring a signed form from every guest produces a process abandoned within a month; requiring nothing leaves the show with no position when a guest demands removal, disputes an edit, or finds the interview in a book. Use the four triggers — heavy editing, sensitive material, re-use beyond the episode, and commercial significance — and use the release every time one applies.

Five: negotiating the split and not the rights. In every network, platform, and commissioned arrangement the outcome is decided by who owns the mark, who controls the feed, and who holds the masters. Those three terms are routinely accepted as drafted while revenue percentages are argued for weeks. The split governs a few years of income; the rights terms govern whether there is a show at all.