Video Copyrights and Fair Use in Churches

[David Reddel]

KK-

Sounds like you needed a good lawyer to carve out some free presentation uses for your own congregation when that ABC crew first came out.


Blessings!

As I was doing the appedix for copyright sites I found a really cool one: www.churchca.com

Here are some others:

Christian Copyright Licensing International: www.ccli.com

Christian Video Licensing Inc: www.cvli.org

Church Copyright Administration: www.churchca.com

Copyright & Fair Use, Stanford: fairuse.stanford.edu

Microsoft: www.microsoft.com/permission

US Copyright Office: www.loc.gov/copyright

If I missed any major ones, let me know. Thanks!

You may want to include http://copyclear.com to that list. I have never used them, but it looks interesting.

BTW...ABC had pity on me. They sent me a master tape and permission to show it to an audience in the mail....for free. They did shut me down on permission to distribute it on cd/dvd media or internet streamed though.

Thanks,
KK.

For what it's worth, here are some quotes from a book by Len Wilson, called "The Wired Church":

• "We showed a scene from the film "Return to Me", a story based on the experience of two families and how a heart transplant brought them together. The three-minute scene we showed was a montage within the film showing the grieving husband who had authorized his wife's heart to be transplanted, another family praying that their daughter receive a heart, the heart being transported to the operating room, and the young woman breathing on her own..."

• "With the use of a video capture program, available through many computer software companies, and a VHS or DVD machine plugged into a computer, short film clips may be copied and edited from movies that have been legally obtained by an individual, imported into a presentation program, and then shown. A single copy of the segment, no more than 10 percent or three minutes of a film, may be made from a legally obtained copy of the film as long as proper credit is displayed.
Using this same software, it is possible to create your own film scenes by editing together a number of short video clips..."

• "We have sometimes played a film clip and added a different soundtrack to it by turning down the film sound and playing a song"

• "we avoid video clips and songs that include offensive language...Mostly, however, video-editing equipment allows us to delete offensive language."

• "We have recently discovered that a video capture board... can provide for copying short sequences from either videotape or DVD. This material can then be saved as a file that can be exported directly into PowerPoint, or other software and then displayed. Because fo the feature, we seldom use actual videotape or DVD in worship..."


These quotes raised more questions than I had before. I guess in the end, we have to let the Holy Spirit guide our Ministry and convict our hearts if we are doing anything contrary to to God's Glory.

In Him,

Dave Anderson

MODERATOR'S NOTE: Len Wilson has responded to these quotes in a post located HERE. Please be sure to read that!

I have Len's book. Its very good. I would recommend it to everyone!

From your quote, it mentions the "3 minute rule". I have heard this rule passed around before in the church but can never find and substance behind it. Does anybody know where it came from? Was there some court case that decided that 3 minutes or less was fair use?

KK.

I recently attended a coyright workshop specifically designed for churches at the 2003 NRB convention...The answer according to the church copyright expert was true, these are illegal practices

Holly

[[Admin] PHugger]

I really appreciate this thread. It's been an eye opener. I also manage our church LAN of 40 workstations and 4 servers. We finally got completely legal this past year with OS, Office and everything else licenses. We found a place that brokers (?) software for non-profits. I understand the desire to be 'completely legal'. So far I'm not too bothered by any copyright issues for stuff we may use in our worship services. We do CCLI and I think CVLI, but I'll be checking on that. What is of much greater concern is streaming to the web. What is legal and what isn't - Music, Videos, Dramas - youch! I think my head is gonna pop. I also heard something quoted once about tape ministries being OK as long as the number of copies is less that some small percentage. We do change for tapes - this is probably a no no.


Much to think and pray about,
PCH

Originally posted by Phugger
We do change for tapes - this is probably a no no.


Much to think and pray about,
PCH

Charging for the tapes is OK, if you are in the right on copyrights... If all your music is covered by CCLI then you can charge up to $4.00 per audio tape(CD) and $12.00 for a video tape(DVD). If the music is covered by anyone else, then you would have to negotiate rights/royalties with them - prior to recording/selling the copies... Just remember, that doesn't include audio/video of any movies/dramas that you might show/perform during that week as well.... It can turn into a giant mess if your not careful and deliberate.

Also know that CCLI doesn't cover your web streaming - which amounts to broadcasting. So be aware of that!

[[Admin] PHugger]

Broadcasting sounds like radio. I remember from my college days at the school radio station.... what was I talking about? OK, I think I remember from my college days - we never had any issues about broadcasting music. Commercial radio stations make money from playing music - wow. How is that legal. I guess the copyright owners are glad for the exposure? Would the same broadcast rules apply to webcasting?


PCH

I'm not sure that the a bmi/ascap license covers webcasting... I would assume they have made provisions for this (noting the number of internet radio stations)- but I haven't personally checked it out.

Commercial radio stations make money from Advertising - NOT playing music. They need enough income from the Ads they sell to pay all their overhead costs - which includes the copyright licenses - bmi/ascap etc to PAY for the rights to play the music - which attracts the listeners - who hear the ads... you get the picture.

[[Admin] PHugger]

Was that a guess or are you sure that commercial radio stations pay license fees to play music? I know the record companies pretty much throw media at stations. It seems like a symbiotic relationship and not as simple as you present. Why wouldn't the radio stations charge the record companies to play their music? I also know that this type of kickback also happens.

On another tack -

I'm often asked to pull together (like I can suddenly get creative and snap my fingers and produce some footage - sigh) a video presentation that will accompany a peice of music for the worship service. Most recently we did a slide show of local seasonal images (all our own or with permission) that accompanied Nicole Nordeman's Every Season. We are licensed through CCLI, but I wonder if this is covered? I guess webcasting would be out? This type of presentation seems to be a favorite at our church.

I can't wait to dump all this on the worship director - LOL!


PCH

PS - the Every Season piece was Primo!!

[David Reddel]

Phugger- ( I feel real strange when I say that... )

Here is a response to that question from a prior thread. This came from Steve Frisma:

__________________________________________________ __

"Straight from the source, this Email is from a BMI representative. I had sent a question to their general info email address and asked about playing CD's in worship and for bands playing covers of secular music:"


Steve,

The Copyright Law makes provisions for the exemption of churches for "public performances of music in the course of religious services at a place of worship." Therefore, music used before, during or after a worship service, would be exempt. If the services are recorded or videotaped, a license for mechanical or synchronization rights may be required.

I trust the above has been helpful. Thank you for your interest in BMI.

Sandi L. Struening
BMI
General Licensing / Marketing
10 Music Square East
Nashville, TN 37203


Also note the following from a previous post that I had on another thread in a discussion with David Welch:


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