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Originally Posted by colcifer  Indie bands may own all of the rights to their music in which case you just need to contact them for permission. If there are record and publishing companies involved, it'll be worse than going to the dmv. Whatever you do, do it cautiously. |
My understanding (as a non-lawyer, non-Canadian person) is that Canada's laws parallel the US laws.
As such, like Colcifer said, get their permission. Almost across the board, they'll be OK with it - the smaller the band, the more likely they'll both be willing to let you use the music and own both the performance and mechanical royalties (who wrote the song and who paid the money to make the recording). The smaller the band, the more likely it'll be to clear the song.
That said, most musicians don't make money off their music anymore, and are pretty open about people letting them use it. Just ask, and you'll probably receive.
Also, if you use a bigger named band, you'll probably have to pay royalties.... Unless your podcast provides critiques of the music. If you talk over it, stop it occassionally to say "man, that rhythm section is tight," or "I don't think they needed a string section here," then you are not infringing on the copyright as long as you don't play the song uninterrupted.
Also, if your podcast gets sued by a greedy, big music company, it could be GREAT
PR for you as the struggling underdog!
