Please allow me the opportunity of discussing a few Q & A’s Live Streaming Issues for Churches that I have seen over the past several days in a variety of social networking groups.
To say that churches are experiencing a complete shift in the way that we are accustomed to communicating with our congregants would be a huge understatement.
A great industry leader and friend that I follow regarding communications with churches, Brady Shearer, coined the phrase “The biggest shift in church communications in 500 years.” With the recent concerns and issues surrounding COVID-19 and all that it has brought along with it, there hasn’t been this great of a concern for church communications since the great revivals from back in the Billy Graham days. I am going to do my very best to address a few of the live streaming issues for churches that I have come across in the past couple of weeks.
Needless to say the best streaming platforms that make it the easiest to get up and running quickly with a live stream are both Facebook Live and YouTube. Furthermore, these just happen to be the two biggest content delivery platforms across the globe.
However, if I had to pick my personal favorite, I would recommend YouTube. The reason being, most everyone these days has access to a smartphone and knows how to find and watch videos on YouTube. Another factor in my decision is that not everyone has an account with Facebook nor are they interested in creating one for a variety of reasons.
YouTube doesn’t require any account creation in order to be able to watch video’s on their platform. Thus making it more accessible to the masses. People are more apt to watch your videos where there are no strings attached in order for them to enjoy.
While I can offer you a very detailed list of some pretty sophisticated equipment, let’s stick to the basics. Not all churches are financially equipped to make any significant purchases of high-end equipment at this point in time.
In addition, with many churches having to stream from a different location that the traditional church building, it wouldn’t be a great asset anyway.
Most nearly everyone has access to a smartphone. While it won’t necessarily provide the best audio, depending on how far away it is located from the source, it certainly will get the job done.
A strong Internet connection certainly will make a huge difference as well. Even better is if you are on a local WiFi connection, even better is if you can connect a DSLR camera or your phone to your PC or Mac, which has a direct connection via Ethernet.
In order to live stream from YouTube, you at the very least must have a Gmail account and logged into YouTube. Going live is as simple as clicking on the Camera icon usually located at the top, waiting 3 seconds, then begin streaming your content. The same thing can be achieved on Facebook as well by choosing to “Go Live.”
Getting back to YouTube, another reason I prefer their platform to stream to is that your video’s will be cataloged in date order. While you can visit a church’s FB page video’s section, I don’t think anyone truly has a definitive answer as to how long those videos will be available to view. It certainly is better to be safe than to be sorry.
Also, keep in mind that not only does your quality Internet connection count for your live streaming needs, it also helps when your viewing audience has a decent Internet connection that doesn’t result in a lot of buffering and timeout situations. Again, not all Internet connections are created equally.
This again gets back to the quality of your Internet connection and what type of device you are relying upon to stream from. Whether that be a cellphone, laptop, or desktop machine with some sort of streaming software.
Even more importantly, think about the fact that with so many people being confined to their home, more and more people are on the Internet at the peak times when churches may be streaming their content.
This certainly will play a factor in your deliverability. Just because your viewers may say that they are experiencing technical difficulties, doesn’t mean that it is necessarily coming from your end. Again, all things considered the Internet.
I suppose I could spend an eternity just on this aspect of the issue. However, I am only going to provide you with options. Unfortunately, both will come with a fixed expense with them.
Yes, there are FREE options available for your use, however, the learning curve that comes with them will take your more time than it will to actually get your church live stream up and running.
My personal favorite streaming software for Mac users is eCamm Live. We just recently starting using it and I am overwhelmingly surprised and impressed at its ease-of-use, pricing, and features that make it well worth the investment. Easy-to-use and overlay graphics, lower thirds, and even bring in pre-recorded video’s of possibly your worship team and things of that nature.
By far has to be one of the easiest pieces of software for a live streaming solution that I have come across in a while. Another feature, is the fact that when your done posting to either Facebook Live or YouTube live, it will prompt you to upload to the other source that you are not live streaming directly to.
Since our church prefers the Facebook Live Stream, once we have completed the streaming, we then merely click a button to have it immediately uploaded to our YouTube channel and usually within 10 minutes or less the video appears there as well.
While I have been doing a great deal of reviewing various pieces of software to help make churches live streaming easier, the one that I came across for PC users is called Vmix. Again another piece of software that brings a lot of features and functionality with it.
Obviously, I am on a Mac, so I haven’t personally had to ability to tinker with this one. However, based upon watching a few video’s featuring it, it does look very promising and fairly straight forward to use.
Ah yes, this has to be one that I have been answering question after question about. This is certainly one that all churches and ministries should be paying close attention to as well.
Before I begin digging into this one, you may want to check out my other article that is closely related to this one as well.
Everyone is always excited about their praise and worship services. I fully understand this. However, since many churches are not able to meet in their usual locations, delivering the traditional means of praise and worship have substantially changed.
Let’s take a look at some issues and how you need to ensure that you are adequately protecting yourself and your churches legal interests.
By now I am presuming that the majority of churches have become familiar with an organization called CCLI. They by far the the number one authority when it comes to licensing various aspects of content that you display, whether within your physical location or streaming. However, there are limitations that you will want to make certain that you are familiar with.
In the world we live in today, where people are so quick to throw a lawsuit, it is crucial to ensure that you have the appropriate levels of licensing based upon your church’s individual needs.
If I can suggest one thing that will certainly have the most impact upon what you may be displaying or playing via your live streaming event, if you have to question its legality, DON’T DO IT.
CCLI will only cover your church for content that you are visually displaying and music that you are playing live. Let me emphasize the word LIVE.
This doesn’t cover you for audio soundtracks or video’s that you may have acquired via other locations and if used, may find yourself in a legal battle over royalty and copyright infringement issues. Please take the time to review their licensing coverage here.
If your church or ministry has a singer(s) who are performing a song that maybe like something from Hillsong United and is using a vocal backing track, you must have another type of license, which is available here.
If you don’t have the proper licensing to stream or record the music being used, you are opening the doorway to huge litigation issues. Believe me, with so many churches around the United States using live streaming as the method to deliver their online services, you can bet that there are plenty of lawyers just sitting around waiting for the opportunity to bite. DON’T BE A VICTIM.
With many streaming platforms running on minimal manpower during this pandemic, most are relying upon strong algorithms to detect any content that they may deem as being possible copyright infringement.
In addition, if you do have the necessary licensing from either one or the other, I would highly suggest that you place your license number in the description and from what organization it was obtained from.
It has become very popular to incorporate pre-recorded videos within your live stream. To ensure that you are covering your bases, please make sure that the video content is your own.
Just because someone may give you verbal permission to use something, is no guarantee that they own it, nor prevent you from becoming involved in an unnecessary lawsuit. Make sure you have the proper documents to protect yourself and your church.
Needless to say, ignorance of the laws that are applicable to any given situation will not protect you. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR BASES COVERED.
That’s a great question. As long as you are actually performing the song on your own instruments and singing, you are fine.
It is when you begin using vocal background tracks that you may find yourself in a precarious situation. If you don’t have the musicians necessary to play any given tune or sing it acapella, it’s just best to leave the music out of it.
Hopefully, I have been able to address some of the most frequently Q & A live streaming for churches questions today. I realize that I have only touched on a few, however, I am trying to make this as concise and accurate as possible without having to go into a short book.
Should you need any help answering questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. I will be more than glad to help in any way that I can.
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