Can you stream your radio station on YouTube?

Why your webcast licence stops at YouTube

A station that streams on its own website or app in the US usually does so under the statutory licence in sections 112 and 114 of the Copyright Act, administered by SoundExchange. It is a licence you can take without asking each label: you file a notice with the Copyright Office, pay the set rates and report what you play. That convenience comes with conditions, and the first one is that the service must be "noninteractive".

SoundExchange describes a noninteractive service as one where "the user experience mimics a radio broadcast". Your own player passes that test. YouTube does not, and SoundExchange names it: "For services which provide an interactive service or on-demand access to certain tracks or artists (e.g., YouTube), the statutory license does not apply, and a direct license must be obtained from the copyright holder."

The UK works the same way with a different licence. PPL's Linear Webcast Licence covers an online radio station or a simulcast "where audiences cannot interact with or change the listening experience", and PPL adds that audio-visual, music video and TV content "are not covered by this licence". A YouTube stream is audio-visual by definition.

Two more points that catch stations out. The statutory licence covers the recordings, not the songs: the compositions are licensed separately, through the performing rights organisations in your country; read whether yours covers anything beyond your own service. And even a direct licence does not keep a YouTube stream on air by itself, which is the next section.

What YouTube does with a station's music

YouTube's position is that permission has to come from the rights holders, not from YouTube: "YouTube cannot grant you these rights." On a live stream the enforcement is automatic. According to YouTube Help:

• "All live streams are scanned for matches to third-party content, including copyrighted content in the form of another live broadcast."
• When a match is found, "a placeholder image may replace your live stream" and you are warned to stop.
• "If the third-party content remains in your stream, your live stream will be temporarily interrupted or terminated."

A music station cannot "stop streaming the third-party content" without stopping being a music station, so a simulcast of a music playlist can expect to be interrupted again and again. Having a licence is not enough on its own either: if you have licensed music, YouTube says to ask the owner to add your channel to their Content ID allowlist, because "your live stream can be interrupted even if you've licensed the third-party content".

Recorded archives are treated differently: Content ID claims on a live stream "are only made after you complete your live streams, if you decide to archive the video". Claimed music can then mute the archive, block it in some countries or send its ad revenue to the rights holder.

Kick has no Content ID, but it has no licence either. It acts on DMCA notices from rights holders and says it will "suspend or terminate accounts" of repeat infringers. Our guide to copyrighted music on Kick covers its music rules in detail.

What a station can put on a 24/7 stream

The question to ask of every hour of output is simple: does the station own it, or does it hold written permission that names YouTube (and Kick, if you use it) and live streaming?

YouTube describes Audio Library music as "copyright-safe", and tracks from it "won't be claimed by a rights holder through the Content ID system". It is a good source of beds under talk. It is not a substitute for a music format: a library is built for background use, and our guide to music licenses for 24/7 streams shows how often licences rule out running them as a radio station.

The practical split for most stations: talk output and programming you own go to YouTube, and the music simulcast stays on your own player, where the webcast licence applies.

Turning an audio feed into a YouTube stream

YouTube only accepts video, so the feed needs a picture: a still station card with your logo and frequency is enough. This command reads a live audio stream (an Icecast or Shoutcast URL), pairs it with the card and sends it to YouTube:

ffmpeg -reconnect 1 -reconnect_streamed 1 -reconnect_delay_max 30 \
  -i "https://stream.example.org/talk.mp3" \
  -loop 1 -framerate 30 -i station-card.png \
  -map 1:v -map 0:a -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -tune stillimage \
  -pix_fmt yuv420p -g 60 -b:v 3000k -maxrate 3000k -bufsize 6000k \
  -c:a aac -b:a 128k -ar 44100 \
  -f flv "rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2/YOUR-STREAM-KEY"

We tested it on our server on October 27, 2026, with a local test stream and a 1280 by 720 card: the output was H.264 at 30 frames per second with a keyframe every 2 seconds, and AAC audio at 44.1 kHz. That matches YouTube's encoder guidance, which asks for a keyframe frequency of 2 seconds ("Do not exceed 4 seconds") and 44.1 kHz audio at 128 kbps for stereo. YouTube's minimum for 720p at 30 fps with H.264 is 3 Mbps, which is why the video bitrate is set to 3000k even for a still image.

Point the input at a separate talk-only or rights-cleared mount, not your main music feed. Treat the stream key like a password, and run the command on a server rather than a studio PC, so a restart or an update does not end the broadcast.

When the station is off air: a looped reel

Not every station wants a live relay. Some put a long reel of their own programmes on YouTube around the clock instead: best-of shows, interviews, studio sessions they have the rights to. That is a pre-recorded video, which is a different job from the relay above.

Before you go live

1. Every hour on the stream is talk, your own production, or music with a written licence that names YouTube (and Kick) and live streaming.
2. Licensed music: the rights holder has added your channel to their Content ID allowlist.
3. The input is a talk-only or cleared mount, not your main music feed.
4. Your encoder sends a keyframe every 2 seconds and AAC audio at 44.1 kHz.
5. The stream key is stored like a password, and the encoder runs on a machine that stays online.
6. Your webcast and composition licences still cover what you play on your own player.

FAQ