As a radio station you typically go through one of a few licensing companies, which you pay royalty checks to. For example: https://www.ascap.com/help/royaltie

As a radio station you typically go through one of a few licensing companies, which you pay royalty checks to. For example: https://www.ascap.com/help/royalties-and-payment/payment/whocollect https://www.ascap.com/help/royalties-and-payment/payment/who... https://www.bmi.com/licensing https://www.bmi.com/licensing You can't just play any music you want on the radio without permission (with an automatic fee attached). I've owned commercial radio stations and while you could play a vast amount of music with no hassle, it's due to the licensing/royalty agreements with companies like ASCAP & BMI that streamline the process. Pretty much everybody that plays music in the US has an agreement with ASCAP, including XM Sirius, all the streaming services, and just about every radio station.