Let’s take a look at how your church or ministry can avoid copyright issues during live streaming.
This has to be one of the most highly discussed topics in nearly every group and networking community that I am in. When it comes to playing music in the background, outside videos, and even displaying lyrics or other content during your live stream is something you should be concerned with and take every measure to ensure that you are not in any copyright violation.
With so many churches and ministries having to turn to live streaming from outside locations other than their church, there is a real tendency to want to have some music or videos to help with filling in the praise and worship part of the stream. However, there can be some huge ramifications that can be placed against your church or ministry if you do not have the necessary licensing to ensure you are not in any copyright violation type concerns.
This certainly applies to both music, videos, and images. If it is something that your church or ministry created and you find yourself asking whether it is permissible to utilize during your live stream, DON’T DO IT.
While as harmless as it may seem to want to share a Hillsong United video before you actually go live, you would potentially be in a huge copyright violation with the necessary licensing.
Let me provide you with an example of how it can go wrong very quickly.
I dealt with a church who asked for permission to use a certain video during their live stream. They proceeded to do so with blessing from the person who had it on their site. However, where this all went astray was the fact that the person who granted the permission was not the original creator of the video nor the copyright holder, thus resulting in the church displaying it receiving a huge fine and drawn out litigation process.
CCLI is one of the most recognized licensing providers for both churches and ministries both here in the United States and around the world. However, they have limitations on what they provide you license for and how you may deliver or broadcast the content.
It is always imperative that you recognize and understand which license you may need to deliver or stream your content.
Furthermore, if you are going to be doing a live stream and have a soloist performing a song to a backing track say from Daywind Tracks, your CCLI licensing will not cover this for streaming processes as this is considered to be a redistribution of the content and requires a specific license to do so.
It goes without saying that you should ensure that you have all your bases covered and have a full understanding of what licenses may be needed in order to deliver your content, regardless of the method of doing so.
I can assure you that your church will love you for doing so.
There is no worse feeling than receiving a letter from a law firm listing them in a class action lawsuit due to a violation of copyright laws.
I can assure you that both Facebook and YouTube have some of the most sophisticated algorithms and detection processes known to the world.
You don’t want to take a “STRIKE” against your account as this will certainly hinder your ability, or worse yet, prevent you from being able to deliver the Gospel message.
While you can dispute the notice, you will need to be prepared to have your licensing info readily available for whatever material you used. I’m sure all you have heard the term “innocent until proven guilty,” however, in the case of proving you have permission, it’s just the opposite. Your guilty until you can prove your innocent. It is, unfortunately, just the way the Internet rolls.
Needless to say, during this pandemic and so many companies running on shoe-string crews, they have very few actual humans who are going in to review and disputes, which may result in you being offline for longer periods of time until you are able to resolve the dispute over the use of any potential copyrighted media.
In addition, when you are posting your content to various social networking sites, or video hosting providers, you may want to include your licensing info in the description of your videos. Thus, potentially reducing the opportunity for them to penalize you for the use of the content you are delivering during your streams.
It is a highly sensitive area when it comes to protecting yourself and you will want to make sure that if you have any questions about the material you may be wanting to use, to reach out to the owner of the content or publishing company to get clarification on it.
There certainly is a wealth of information in the video above. I know that this is a lot of information to digest and take in, however, you want to do everything within your power to prevent any legal issues against yourself or your church or ministry.
Let me know what you are doing to prevent your church or ministry from enduring any legal issues and what licensing agencies you are using. We’d love to know so we can share with other churches who are facing these issues with you.
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