“Hold on tight kids, here we gooooo!” Remember the first time you rode on the Peter Pan ride at Disneyland (Disney World for East Coastians)? I do…I recall with vivid Technicolor detail the thrilling anticipation and excitement of impatiently waiting my turn to get in the car and take flight up and away into the dark cavern dotted with a swash of stars above my head.

I have that same mixed sense of awe and anxiety today as we prepare to take off on the whirlwind tour of summer worship conferences. Our first stop will be the Willow Creek Arts Conference in Chicago starting this Tuesday (June 10). We’ll move on to the Southern Baptist conference in New Orleans June 15-17 and then Saddleback’s Worship event June 22-26 in Southern California. And that’s just June…then there’s the Worship Leader conference in Austin in July and the ride continues through August and September.

The great part is that we’ll have many opportunities to meet hundreds and thousands of church pastors and worship leaders, and I always look forward to that connection. The anxiety part comes from just the physical energy requirements of all the travel. I could use a little bit of Tinker Bell’s magic flying dust right now…plus lots of happy thoughts.

What I enjoy most is the interaction with worship leaders and the learning aspect of fielding questions, problem solving and brain storming. One of the most common questions is “I thought churches have an exemption for performance rights. Why do we need a performance license?”

The U.S. Copyright Law actually provides an exemption for churches in one important area: Religious Service Exemption. Exempts performance and display of copyrighted work of a religious nature during religious services. Remember that copyright owners have five exclusive rights: 1) reproduction 2) display 3) derivative 4) distribution and 5) performance. So, the exemption covers display and performance but ONLY for works of a religious nature in a religious service. This means that performance of non-religious songs during a service are not exempt, and music played or performed outside a religious service requires permission from the copyright owner(s).

Many churches today play or perform music outside the service, and some of the most common examples are:

1.      concerts

2.      seminars and conferences

3.      playing music throughout the church’s facility (in the lobby or narthex before and after services, in books stores or coffee houses and other areas of the church)

4.      music-on-hold

5.      social events like BBQs, youth gatherings, dinners, etc.

6.      dance or aerobics classes

NOTE: some non-profit concerts may also be exempt if 3 criteria area met: 1) no fee is charged (including offerings); 2) the performers, producers or organizers are not paid, and 3) there is no profit motive.

If churches want to legally play or perform non-exempt music, they need to obtain annual facility or special events licenses from ASCAP, BMI and SESAC, the U.S. Performance Rights Organizations (PROs). These three PRO licenses cost about $700/year, plus reporting and possible additional fees throughout the year.

The good news is that CCA (www.churchca.com) will soon be launching a new one-stop license from ASCAP, BMI and SESAC that greatly simplifies the process and allows churches to legally play or perform up to 16 million songs in all of these venues.

We’ll have more news about the license at the Saddleback Worship conference in a few weeks, but you can also call 251-929-2411 for details. And please come by and visit our booth if you’re attending any of the worship events over the next few months.

HRS (In His Royal Service)

"The Copyright Queen"