Music Licensing for Internet Radio in South Africa: SAMRO, SAMPRA and CAPASSO Explained

If you're broadcasting recorded music in South Africa — over the air or online — you're generally dealing with two separate kinds of rights, collected by three different organisations. It trips a lot of first-time broadcasters up, so here's the short version.

SAMRO — the composition itself

The Southern African Music Rights Organisation licenses the underlying musical work — the melody, lyrics and composition — on behalf of composers, songwriters and publishers. If a track is played, performed, or broadcast, SAMRO is generally the body concerned with the writer's side of that.

SAMPRA — the recording itself

The South African Music Performance Rights Association licenses "needletime" — the right to play a specific recorded performance — on behalf of performers and record labels. This is a separate right from SAMRO's: SAMRO covers the song as written, SAMPRA covers the recording of it that you're actually playing.

CAPASSO — reproduction / mechanical rights

CAPASSO (Composers, Authors and Publishers Association) administers mechanical rights — the right to reproduce a work, for example by copying tracks into an AutoDJ library or a playout system. If your station stores and plays music from its own library rather than streaming a live external feed, this is typically the relevant one.

So do I need all three?

In most cases, an internet radio station playing commercially released recorded music — live and via AutoDJ — needs to deal with all three: SAMRO and SAMPRA for broadcasting the material, and CAPASSO for storing/reproducing it in your playout system. Community, campus and church stations are not automatically exempt because they're non-commercial or small — contact each organisation directly to confirm what applies to your specific setup, station size and content mix.

Where to start

• Search "SAMRO licence application" to find their current online registration process.
• Search "SAMPRA needletime licence" for broadcaster registration.
• Search "CAPASSO mechanical licence" for reproduction rights.

If you're playing entirely original, royalty-free, or Creative-Commons-licensed music, some of this may not apply — but confirm that in writing with the relevant body rather than assuming. Keep whatever licence confirmation you receive; it's the thing you want on hand if anyone ever asks.