[CS-FSLUG] Worship music license

[Yama Ploskonka]

I had a long talk with Mr. Straup of Christian Copyright Licensing 
International.

http://www.ccli.com

He was very willing to help me understand and give me information on 
using copyrighted worship music, even though I mentioned my support for 
open source...  I appreciate his patience, since basically if I had my 
way him and most of commercial entertainment would not have a job.

His suggestions:  As to music for the DVD, they do not cover that.  We 
would need to contact the publisher.  The industry standard is about 10 
cents per copy.  Another alternative would be to buy/download legal 
copies, one for each DVD we distribute, from a 99 cent website.  He 
mentioned
http://www.songtouch.com
as a Christian website.

I say let's contact the publisher, I will follow up on that with Mrs. C.

Marc said that live performances during worship or religious services do 
not need any license (yeeha!), neither do practice time

(what about teaching time, Marc?  If our kids have a class that uses 
copyrighted materials).  He called back with an answer.  He believes 
that only if up to 10% of a piece is used (we would need those hymns 
with eternally long stanzas... :-) )  So that wouldn't work, but he is 
not sure.  I assumed "fair use" for educational purposes would cover 
that.  We'll have to follow up that one.

Our Assemblies do have that worship element -  I'd say we call them 
"Worship & Assembly", and then the worship music part (for which we are 
covered without needing a license) would be on the worship part of the 
program.  Then, of course, we could just consider the whole event a 
worship/religious event (which it is in my view - we talk character 
values, pray, worship, announcements.) No license needed for that.

Such a _live_ event as that, including music, can also be recorded for 
purposes such as distributing it to families that did not come, but 
cannot be sold for more than $ 4.00 a copy.  If I understood it right, 
that does not need a license either. (Marc? is that correct?)

Now, if we want to project the lyrics on a screen, or print copies of 
the lyrics, we would need a license.  FEFC's doesn't cover us, because 
we are not affiliated with them.
$ 170 yearly for a group between 100-200 people
$ 223 yearly for a group between 200-500 people

He will be sending me printed information about the next steps.  He can 
start our license year by us just giving him a call, effective that day, 
he bills us later.  My opinion is that we do that in August - It would 
be worth it for the right to print lyrics and have kids be able to 
practice those at home.  If we felt at peace about this, it would be an 
amazing cross-learning resource we could really make good use of.  And 
definitely for the camp next year we will want a songbook.

Personally I will still be looking for Libre (open source) Christian 
music.  Amazingly little of it so far.  Best resource until now: the US 
military.  Their performances are public domain, and so are the 
recordings thereof.

Yama
(I am blind-copying Head, Principal, garage band, to respect privacy)


Marc Straup wrote:
>  
> Hi Yama,
> 
> It sounds like a license may be helpful to you in some situations that
> you have mentioned below.  You are not able to use a license that is not
> yours even if you meet in the same building.  
> 
> It would be easier if you can call me so I can answer these and other
> questions you might have on the phone.  Please give me a call sometime.
> 
> Sincerely,
>  
> Marc Straup  | Church Representative  |  C C L I 
>  
> Christian Copyright Licensing Inc.
> 17201 NE Sacramento Street
> Portland, Or 97230
> mstraup at ccli.com  1-800-234-2446 ext. 1412
>  
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Yama Ploskonka [mailto:yama at netoso.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 12:21 AM
> To: Sales
> Subject: question on need to purchase license
> 
> Dear CCLI,
> 
> A group of our students has prepared a short video showing our school
> activities.  They plan to put as background music some worship songs.
> The resulting DVD will be offered to parents of our students, a donation
>   suggested.  We are not affiliated with a church, but we operate in
> facilities of a church that might have a CCLI license.
> 
> Our school (elementary and middle school only) serves about 100 families
> 
> 1) Do we need to purchase a license?  If so, what kind, what cost?
> 2) Does it make a difference whether this church has a CCLI license
> already?
> 3) Can we legally show the video with that music without purchasing any
> license?  If no, what should we do?
> 4) Some of them have a garage band that plays worship songs.  Do they
> need some sort of a license if performing in public?
> 5) What if they record what they play?
> 6) To practice, they are currently using song tabs and lead sheets they
> downloaded from the internet.  Is that legal?
> 7) What if they project those lyrics for the rest of the students to
> sing?  Would that be OK?
> 
> Thank you
> 
> Yama Ploskonka
>