Note on Copyright
As a preacher or worship leader, are you confident about how the laws of copyright affect the use of hymns, songs and liturgy in church? Do you understand the conditions and restrictions of the various church copyright licences? Do you understand that possession of a CCLI licence doesn't cover you to use any song, anywhere? If you answered 'yes' to these questions then read no further! Otherwise, I hope that the following notes may help to demystify the subject a little bit.
1. It is illegal to reproduce without permission a hymn or song which is in copyright. Such permission can either be obtained directly from the copyright holder (possibly on payment of a royalty) or, more practically, by acquiring a copyright licence which covers the text concerned.
2. The means of reproduction is irrelevant – printing, electronic, projection, manuscript – it is the fact of reproducing the words that matters.
3. Copyright expires 70 years after the death of an author or composer – you don't need a licence to reproduce Charles Wesley's hymns! (equally, you don't need permission to update the language – if you dare).
4. The principal licences used by churches in this country are:
- Christian Copyright Licensing (CCLI) which covers most (but by no means all) the modern worship songs in the Songs of Fellowship series.
- Calamus which covers a number of American publishers (eg. New Dawn), some publishers popular in the Roman Catholic Church (notably McCrimmon), some increasingly popular composers such as Bernadette Farrell and Marty Haugen, and the music of Taizé.
5. The fact that someone has posted words of a hymn on a website (maybe as part of an order of service) does not prove that they had permission to reproduce them, and even assuming that they did, that right does not transfer to anyone else unless specifically stated.
6. A copyright licence applies only to the church which pays for it. A visiting preacher cannot legally reproduce a hymn under their own church's licence for use in a church which doesn't have a licence.
7. Not all songs are covered by CCLI, a notable example being I, the Lord of sea and sky (which is published by New Dawn and is covered by Calamus). Some songs are covered by neither (famously, Morning has broken).
8. Here are some ways you can check the copyright situation:
- Search the lists of authors and copyright administrators on the CCLI website
- Use CCLI's reporting tool CopyReport
- The HymnQuest database, published by the Pratt Green Trust, has full copyright information and tells you which licence (if any) covers the song. If you don't have copyright permission, HymnQuest doesn't permit you to copy the text!
9. Even if the words of the song you want to use are covered by a licence there may still be a problem if the church doesn't have the music. The CCLI Music Reproduction Licence (MRL) enables a lot of music to be photocopied (copyright holders and publications covered are listed on the CCLI website), but it is a condition of the MRL that the licensee has purchased one original copy of the book.
10. Both CCLI and Calamus expect churches to report the songs they reproduce under licence so that they can apportion royalties, and there are electronic tools available to do this. Any church with a licence should have someone who is doing this and understands enough to answer questions raised by preachers. Most other questions can be best be answered by consulting the copyright licence providers' websites.
Michael Boxall, Carshalton Methodist Church