Keen on Music Publishing

My church is performing songs and projecting lyrics on a screen. What are the licensing issues?

First of all, you are to be commended for seeking this information in an effort to do the right thing. God bless you. The issues here are directly correlated to the type of usage taking place. The short answers are these;

To sing or perform songs in a worship service	No license required*
To copy or project the lyrics	License required**

One of the freedoms that Americans cherish is the freedom to worship. That freedom includes the economic meaning of the word "free". So when we worship together and sing songs or make music on instruments it is truly free.

However, if we use products in our worship we of course need to buy them. It is important to think of sheet music, CDs or DVDs as products in the same way that we recognize that the grape juice or pews that we use in worship are products. Somebody created them and we compensate them for that.

Projected or photocopied lyrics
When the lyrics are projected onto a screen the same copyright laws apply as if we were using sheet music or the hymnals that were purchased. A "lyric reprint" license is required by Federal copyright law to compensate the songwriter(s) and publisher(s) for using their product.

Let us make sure the point is clear; when we sing songs in a worship service there is no "fee" or "charge" to do that. But when we reprint the lyric, whether it's an overhead projection, power point computer projection or photocopied lyrics in the bulletin, it is expected that we will compensate the owners of the lyrics for that usage. If you desire, you can contact every publisher of every song you use. But! There is an easier way to do that. It involves Christian Copyright Licensing Incorporated (CCLI).

On October 1, 1988 CCLI was formed by Christians to help churches comply with this law and compensate copyright owners. The CCLI website; www.ccli.com makes this very easy. CCLI has obtained the permission of all significant Christian copyright owners to license their works to churches. So, in effect they do the work for you! When your church makes arrangements to purchase a license from CCLI, then you may use any song in the repertoire.

The license fees are based on the size of the congregation and the types of usage taking place. The transaction can be done on-line. If your church reprints or projects lyrics or records music make sure they have a CCLI license.

If you write music that is used in church be sure to register your works with CCLI. It is not reasonable to expect them to come find you! If you or your publisher registers your music with CCLI (much in the same way as you should register your works with ASCAP), you will receive royalties when your songs are picked up in the CCLI survey. For many writers of popular church music, this is a major source of royalty income.

* It is interesting to note however, that Section 110(3) of the US Copyright Code specifies the exemption for dramatic works is limited to works of a "religious nature" only, used in the course of worship services at a place of worship. So it can be argued that using other types of dramatic works like songs from Broadway musicals that deal with religious or spiritual themes in a worship service are NOT exempt from Performance licenses.

** Section 110(5) of the US Copyright Code does contain an exemption for displaying works, that could be used for a very technical exemption in an instance like this. It is conceivable but improbable. For example, if you were to purchase a copy of sheet music and then display that exact copy via some sort of old-school overhead projector you could be exempt. It is much easier to get a CCLI license and use more convenient technology like computers!

Copyright 2007 Dan Keen. All Rights Reserved