A source device which is a distributed device and which is not a wireless network access point advertises a multicast data stream; receives from a destination device a message indicating that the destination device wants to receive the multicast data stream; and adds the destination device to a list of destination devices for the multicast data stream, in which the list is stored in a computer readable memory. In various exemplary embodiments the advertising comprises broadcasting in a protocol adaptation layer an advertisement comprising a multicast medium access control (MAC) address and an address for the source device; or sending to a centralized controller a first message comprising the MAC address which triggers the centralized controller to broadcast an advertisement for the multicast data stream to destination devices. Prior to advertising the source device may create a multicast MAC address and check for uniqueness of the created address via signaling.