Copyright: reproducing hymn & song words, music and audio/video
Keeping on the right side of the law: Following on from previous articles on understanding the law in terms of running lotteries (raffl es), sale of alcohol, etc., we now move onto the area of copyright and the law.
With the ability to copy or reproduce written matter not only easily but very cheaply comes the responsibility on the individual or the PCC to ensure that they are not infringing copyright and that they are complying with the law.
So, if you do any of the above you need to check that your parish holds the correct license to do these acts, pays the fee and more importantly report annually the works used.
Sounds complicated? Don’t worry Christian Copyright Licensing International Ltd (CCLI) are a specialist organisation who take care of matters for you.
Most churches will have already signed with CCLI who will take care of the legal stuff and issue your parish with a licence.
The CCL permits your church to do the following:
- Reproduce, by means of projecting, typing, printing or hand-writing, the words of authorised hymns and worship songs onto screens, service sheets, handouts and OHP acetates etc. for your congregation
- Under the words of each song reproduced you must include the following: [author], © [year, owner], [your licence number] e.g. Fred Smiley, © 2013 Happy Music Ltd., CCL No. 123456
- Make customised instrumental arrangements of authorised music compositions, where no published arrangement is available. All aspects of the music, apart from the instrumentation, must remain unchanged.
- Recording audio/video of your services, including any live music, for non-commercial purposes. You may charge up to £2.50 for cassettes/CDs and £5.00 for videos/DVDs to defray expenses incurred. The number of copies must not exceed 25% of your licence size category, for example, for Category B you may make a maximum of 24 copies.
Seems complicated but they do have very good and experienced people in their call center who will advise and help you.
The CCL does not permit you to record:
- Copyrighted service words, for example readings from the Book of Common Prayer.
- Sound recordings played during Acts of Worship (e.g. regular Sunday services) since this equates to dubbing.
There are other licenses that may apply to you so it pays to look and check what you may require.
For the most up to date information look at the link below: http://churches.uk.ccli.com/licences/
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