With churches jumping on the web broadcasting bandwagon, it's important that they understand the copyright issues that are present, as well as the options for conveniently solving those issues.
When a church broadcasts their complete services over the internet, any music not written by the church needs to be licensed to be used legally. One approach to dealing with this is to contact the (possibly several) organizations owning the rights to each song and arrange licenses. This is time-consuming and complicated.
Alternatively, churches can obtain a blanket license for song performances from either CCLI or Christian Copyright Solutions.
CCLI offers their Church Streaming and Podcast License, which allows you to transmit your church services over the web and covers the same songs that are covered under CCLI's Church Copyright License. Over 200,000 songs are covered under this license. No reporting of the songs you use is necessary, and this covers both live streaming as well as podcasting. Pricing ranges from $75 to $300 per year, depending upon church size. You do need to have CCLI's standard copyright license to be able to use the additional webcast license. No secular music is covered under this license. More information can be obtained at www.churchstreaminglicense.com.
The solution offered by Church Copyright Solutions is called WORSHIPCast. They cover over 16,000,000 Christian and secular songs in their catalog, and fees are based on the weekly attendance of your church. Under 500 in attendance is a $500 annual fee; for attendance of 500 and over, the fee is $925. Reporting of the songs you use is required for churches with an average weekly attendance of 5,000 or more. For more information on WORSHIPCast, please visit www.copyrightsolver.com.
Related content:How to Guide to Streaming Technologies and Internet Outreach (August 2011) Digital Asset Management (October 2010) First Things First: Know Copyright Law to Protect Your Church
