Guideline 5.2.3 for an internet radio player: what documentary evidence resolves it?

Your evidence is thorough, but it appears to prove a different proposition from the one App Review is asking about. The radio-browser.info licence can authorize use of the directory data and API. It does not necessarily authorize your app to provide access to each broadcaster’s audio stream, station name, logo, metadata or programming. Likewise, these facts demonstrate technical accessibility, not permission:

• the stream URL is public and unauthenticated;
• the broadcaster hosts the stream itself;
• the server returns icy-pub: 1;
• the station can edit or remove its directory entry;
• you respond quickly to takedown requests.

A publicly reachable stream is not automatically licensed for inclusion in a third-party commercial directory application. The broadcaster is also the exact party from whom Apple may expect authorization. A takedown process mitigates complaints after publication but does not establish permission before distribution. I would therefore separate the evidence into three rights layers:

1. Directory rights — permission to use the radio-browser.info database and API.
2. Service-integration rights — permission to build a third-party application around that directory or discovery service.
3. Content rights — authorization from each broadcaster, network or appropriately authorized aggregator to expose its stream, branding and metadata through your app.

Your current exhibits appear strong on the first layer but may not establish the third. Before another submission, I would choose one of these paths: A. Launch with a curated licensed catalog Obtain written authorization from a manageable initial group of stations. Each letter should identify:

• your legal entity and app name;
• the station and stream URLs covered;
• permission to make the stream discoverable and playable in the app;
• permission to display the station name, logo and metadata;
• applicable territories and duration;
• confirmation that the broadcaster controls or has the necessary rights to the stream.

B. Use a commercial catalog provider Contract with a provider whose terms expressly allow third-party consumer apps to search and play the covered stations. The agreement should authorize your company and use case, not merely provide API access. C. Remove the catalog and provide a user-configured player Let users enter and manage their own stream URLs without supplying a browsable directory. This materially changes the role of the app, although Apple may still review how third-party content is accessed. For the review package, create a station-level rights matrix with columns for the station, legal operator, stream URL, authorization document, branding permission, territories and expiration date. Do the same separately for podcasts; Podcast Index’s API terms may not by themselves establish rights to every podcast’s audio and artwork. I would also ask App Review a narrower question: “We understand that permission to use directory metadata may be distinct from authorization to make individual audio streams available through the app. Could you confirm whether the outstanding concern is (1) authorization from radio-browser.info and Podcast Index as third-party services under Guideline 5.2.2, (2) authorization from each broadcaster or podcast publisher for the underlying streams under Guideline 5.2.3, or both?” Do not lead the next response with the fact that the streams are publicly accessible. Instead, show a clear chain of authorization from the rights-controlling entity to your developer company. If obtaining station-level or aggregator authorization is not commercially feasible, another unchanged appeal is unlikely to succeed. The realistic product change is either a small licensed catalog or a user-configured player without a supplied third-party directory.

Update: the app was rejected again on 23 September with the same message.

We have replaced the attachment in App Review Information with an updated document, asked App Review for a phone call in the Resolution Center, and will request an App Review appointment when the next registration window opens.

Other apps built on radio-browser.info are available on the App Store today, among them Streamlets, Eter, Sound Salvation and Pladio. If App Review can say what documentation resolves 5.2.3 for an app of this kind, we will provide it. Submission ID 448bc0d6-d797-444b-934f-9f0d7c1a5a28.