You may think you have the rights to use a piece of music on your station, but when it comes to certain uses you may have to think again.

Attorney panelists stressed this point over and over at the provocatively titled session “The Day The Music Died? Performance Tax And Other Copyright Issues” at the National Assn. of Broadcasters Radio Show in Philadelphia Sept. 25.

Panelist Jenell Trigg of Lerman Senter cautioned stations to check their legal rights before using music in podcasts, Web streaming, or even commercials and station promos where additional clearances may be required.

“You have to clear all the rights whenever you use music, wherever you use music, and however you use music,” Trigg said.

She cited one idea she heard at an earlier NAB panel about a station shooting a video at a client location, adding music and posting the spot on its Web site, and cautioned that the addition of music without clearances from the copyright holders could be a deal breaker. Having a license from a performing rights organization to use music on the station, she said, doesn’t automatically give stations the rights to use the music in a podcast, commercial or other uses.

Moderator David Oxenford of Davis Wright Tremaine joked that broadcasters sometimes interpret the fair use doctrine to mean, “Everything is fair use.” He added, “Your public performance rights cover your use to play music on the air, not to synch it with a commercial.”

Oxenford also cited an example of music use in a station promo that got a station in hot water. The station promo included snippets of various songs used to identify the type of music the station plays. The manager of one of the included bands complained that the station had no right to use the song in that way, and the station had to remove it from the promo.

When the topic finally came around to the controversial performance royalty issue in the panel’s last few minutes, Entercom Communications general counsel Jack Donlevie talked about the lobbying techniques against the measure he employs on Capitol Hill. After he’s been in to meet with staffers of various representatives, he asks managers at his stations to call their Congressional reps and talk up the good work the stations do in the community, then throw in the clincher line “and what have record companies done for you lately?”

Oxenford noted that the record industry is “up there [on the Hill] lobbying every day” and bringing in artists like Sheryl Crow to bolster their cause. “They’re getting a lot of attention, so you have to work harder,” he said.