Written by Terry Doner, Jan 8 2021.
There is a lot of confusion about how a church should operate with respect to copyright practices. There are many variables which can get complicated quickly. Even though we always strive to do the right thing, we didn't have a written policy for everybody to follow. Until now.
Note: This document has not been reviewed by a lawyer and is written from a Canadian perspective.
We have a few main concepts that shape our view of 'right'.
The eighth commandment. "You shall not steal". Our society defines the concept of intellectual property rights and ownership. Violations is theft.
“The laborer deserves his wages.” Media productions, such as music, graphics or videos do not just happen, they are the work of somebody's labour. Malachi 3:5 pronounces somber judgement against those who steal from workers.
Finally, "Obey the government"
In Canada, the Copyright Act has a fair use provision which allows use of copyright material without permission for the purposes of research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism, review, and news reporting. In a church context, some of our 'public' uses can be argued as education, or perhaps review. This creates a grey area. Citing a short quote from a book is likely ok. photocopying and distributing an entire book might not be. The courts have established a six factor test to help litigate usages. In many cases, it might be easier to ask for explicit permission.
See this sheet for short discussion on fair use.
The majority of our music is a performance, using the words and music of others, by our own musicians. As such the lyricists and songwriters deserve their compensation. The majority of our music is therefore taken from the CCLI catalogue and used in accordance with the license purchased from them. In our cases this includes streaming.
In the few exceptions where the music we use is not covered by our CCLI license, we then obtain a license from an alternate licensing organization or direct from the property owners. This does mean some advanced planning is required as it typically takes at least a few days to get such permission it may also take months, so plan ahead.
These exceptions include pre-recorded tracks from other musicians as well as words and lyrics written by others.
We do not play commercial music (eg from Spotify) as part of our services.
We also have a CVLI license which covers our ability to exhibit a video from their catalog, under conditions.
Short videos which are purchased from a production house need to include the license to stream and store as part of a composite work (our service recordings).
The CVLI license does not give us carte blanche to use just any video, and in particular does not generally include videos from YouTube.
Motion graphic videos are purchased from a commercial firm, typically Church Motion Graphics. We have the necessary license to stream that content as well. (likewise with their still graphic library).
We occasionally obtain a photo for use from external sources. If not used as a direct teaching point then explicit permission is acquired.
Artwork and logos also have similar considerations. Logos have the additional complication of trademarks. Best to stay clear of trademarked artwork.
Dramatic scripts are used under proper license.
In those circumstances where the material we wish to use is not clearly covered by one of our licensing arrangements, we ask the copyright holder or their administrative agent for permission. This is simple enough but we have a formula which we follow. First we tell them who we are, how we want to use their material, and the duration of the permission requested. There can be a fee associated with the permission and these factors can contribute to the fee calculation. Here is our request template, fill in the appropriate information between the {} :
To Whom it may concern.
Regarding {" Title of Work "} {with url if appropriate}
{ Church Name } seeks permission to use the subject work during our church service planned for {date}. We expect an in person attendance of {people} and, as we also stream our services, an online audience of {device count} devices (which are typically single families and not remote public venues). Our stream is available on Facebook and Youtube and is also retained online in whole or in part for an indefinite period. (Any partial recording would not be our content only).
(Optional paragraph) As this content is on YouTube we would like to have a copy of your video provided to us outside of YouTube. This is to avoid the potential interruptions of the presentation of your content due to internet constraints at the time or advertising.
Thank You
Keeping track of these permissions, licesenses, and related invoices needs to be done via some means other than the email history of individual staff and volunteers. We keep a dual stream of our records.
A master library of permissions and licenses.
This a shared Dropbox folder of all permissions and licenses that we have acquired.
For each individual licenses work there is a folder for that work named with the {name of work} and {first use date}. For example if we purchased a video "Bad Dad Jokes For Fathers Day" we would have a folder called "BadDadJokesForFathersDay_2021-06-20".
That folder would contain the relevant emails, invoices and perhaps other notes. In some cases it may also contain the media itself.
Note: individual items licenses under CCLI are not tracked here.
Also in our master library we keep a action diary (a spreadsheet) which is used to manage future actions and document the completion of past actions.
For example, if we have permission to use a pre-recorded music track for a limited time period, say until June 30th 2021, we would have a entry in this spreadsheet that we can look at and see what recordings we may have that are expiring soon. When we have deleted the media as required by our license, we record the completion of that action in the spreadsheet. If the copyright holder ever comes back to us and asks if we are compliant, we have a quick place where we can go to answer the question with confidence.
For media like a set of multi-track recordings, we have a discrete folder for that particular song in our music library. We also store the permissions in that song library as well.
Further Information
Your Guide to Playing Church Music and Copyright Infringement - discusses three myths
A good overview article by Renewed Vision, the publisher of ProPresenter.
Two firms that provide copyright services for churches:
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
Disney produces a lot of material, they have a website dedicated to the licensing of their property.
For Canadians, the Copyright Act has a fair use provision which allows use of copyright material without permission for the purposes of research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism, review, and news reporting. In a church context, some of our 'public' uses can be argued as education, or perhaps review. This creates a grey area. Citing a short quote from a book is likely ok. photocopying and distributing an entire book might not be. The courts have established a six factor test to help litigate usages. In many cases, it might be easier to ask for explicit permission.
See this sheet for short discussion on fair use.
If you are a church, you are likely familiar with the Ten Commandments, in particular this one.