Church Admin Resources
Copyright
This page provides resources about churches and copyright, including guidelines on how churches can legally use music, videos, and other creative content in services and events
Recorded Webinars
If you’re struggling to understand the complexities of copyright law in the digital age, our webinars offer practical insights and guidance on topics like streaming services and copyright implications, music licensing, and copyright considerations for visual media.
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Additional resources
Copyright Free Music and Videos
This site offers sheet music, lyrics, MIDI, PPT music, and Finale (2002) files of public domain hymns.
This website has music and video which you can freely stream because all songs are public domain, and all performers have surrendered their copyright performance rights.
Copyright General Information
TechSoup investigates the rules for using videos from YouTube, Vimeo, and Instagram.
Brotherhood Mutual offers information about copyrights and what churches should know about the use of audio, video, and written works.
This article from Wiley Education Services looks at ways instructors can legally share the work of others in their online classrooms.
This article from the United Church of Christ website covers different aspects of copyright law for church services, websites, etc.
This podcast is about copyrighted materials, who owns them, and who can give permission to use them for worship
This webinar from One License addresses issues such as transitioning from in-person services to live streaming, the licensing differences between YouTube, Facebook, and your organization’s website.
Bitlaw.com discusses legal issues involved with the creation of a website including copyright concerns, domain name concerns, trademark concerns, defamation, linking and framing.
Copyright Included Music
This subscription service offers new songs of all kinds and musical styles for worship that reflect the theology and transforming biblically based agenda at the heart of Convergence Christianity. Permission to use the music is included with purchase.
Licenses
The CCLI website lists the terms of agreement and permitted music and video activities for its streaming license.
They offer performance licensing covering more than 28 million songs for in-person and online performances.
One License provides access to thousands of congregational hymns, songs, and service music from today’s top liturgical music publishers.
Linking and Copyright Considerations
The Mighty Recruiter website lists practices to take to ensure you don’t run into legal issues with your website.
This post on the Stanford Libraries site includes a sample Linking Agreement and a sample Linking Disclaimer.
This article on the Above the Law website discusses whether those who link to websites can be held liable for copyright infringement if the site they link to infringes on copyright.
This Journalist’s Resource article about linking best practices looks not only at copyright but also at minimizing broken links, choosing linking text, and selecting stable links.
The Digital Media Law Project looks at ways of linking to websites (such as deep linking, inline linking, and framing) and the different legal issues each one raises.
This article on the Finnegan site discusses Circumvention of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Contributory Copyright Infringement, Trademark Infringement, YouTube Videos and Online Linking, and Best Practices for Linking.