Re: Playing a tape or CD in worship service?

This isn't legal advice. The best advice is that you seek legal advice, or at least become familiar with the copyright law. You might start in this direction:

The CD in your hypothetical might have two copyrights: one in the musical work, and one in the sound recording of the performance. There's no public performance right in sound recordings, so that poses no problem for you.

As far as the musical work, assuming it's a composition that hasn't fallen into public domain (which wouldn't be likely for a work by Williams), section 110 of the U.S. Copyright Act (your church is in the US?) has many exemptions on public performances, including (3) "performance of a nondramatic literary or musical work or of a dramatico-musical work of a religious nature, . . . in the course of services at a place of worship or other religious assembly."

Is it a religious work? Used in the course of services? If so, the exemption applies. If not, look for other exemptions that might apply.

You may believe that you asked one question, but there are several. Depending on the nature of the work, its copyright status, and when your church uses it, the answer could vary. If you copied the CD, charged admission, copied the sheet music for others to play, recorded the service or dance, things could get even more complicated.

At 07:47 PM 08/18/2000 -0400, you wrote:
>Hello,
> I would welcome any advice you could offer me. As Director of Music at
>a large church, I am the one most involved with copyright regulations. (My
>stance is generally, please don't shoot the messenger.) I am aware of the
>battle between the Restaurant Association and ASCAP re: fees for having the
>radio or TV broadcasting in their establishments or playing "background
>music." How does this affect nonprofit organizations such as churches? Our
>church wants to play CDs for certain worship services or to accompany dance
>ensembles. It is my understanding that this requires permission from both
>the composer (or copyright holder) as well as the performers. For example,
>we couldn't just pop a CD of Yo-Yo Ma playing music by John Williams into a
>boombox for people to mediate to, or dance to, without the permission of
>both Ma and Williams. A Music Therapist friend says they do that sort of
>thing all the time even in group settings without giving it a thought.
>Can someone please help me?
>Thanks,
>Judith Higbee
>AJ.Higbee[_at_]worldnet.att.net
Received on Wed Aug 30 2000 - 01:48:24 GMT