CCLI Fallout
The other day during choir rehearsal one of our members bellowed out the urgency for us to worship the right way and not the wrong way. Everyone's eyes met in unison making that statement "what is right worship?" Even I said to myself “what does that mean?” Hearing this from a member of my team raised some concern. They went on to explain how much error being seen was causing some discomfort. This guilt caused them to sound an alarm of our error and for us to do things the right way.
On this night our choir rehearsal was held offsite. Since we were rehearsing at the home of a member, the liberty to express your thoughts comes honestly. Not realizing what was being said, the need to express that we were worshiping God the wrong way was intently communicated. My initial thought was how so? But I was reluctant to express my thoughts but other members were baffled at the statement and wanted an explanation. I did not want us to discuss this issue but was forced to listen.
What seemed to cause this person being upset was that the song sheet printed was deemed unacceptable by the guidelines of our license company. A copyright infringement caused them to state that all of us are in error for not abiding by the rules. Yes, there is a Christian copyright company called CCLI who grants churches to purchase legally the copyright for songwriters in having their songs posted or lyrics printed following the copyright laws. This service seems less stressful to many house of worship who create recorded covered music and even sell their songs to their members. In our situation we were projecting the lyrics and using the resources CCLI offers. After all the songs are already catalogue for the sake of simplicity we bought into this service. Also, the majority of our songs are inside this service and it's worth paying the annual fee.
CCLI is a privately owned company that was founded in the US in 1988 by Howard Rachinski, who is the President/CEO. CCLI was launched after being developed by Rachinski for 3½ years while he was a Music Minister at a large church in Portland, Oregon. This prototype, called Starpraise Ministries, began in May 1985. CCLI offers copyright licensing of songs and other resource materials for use in Christian worship.
This type of service somehow replaces the old pew hymnal one would see at a traditional church. Where the song leader would call out a page number so everyone can turn to and participate. Well CCLI gave churches the option to have their hands free during coporate worship instead of holding a 600 page hymnal. This concept is great providing that there are dozens of copyrighted material out there being placed in a database for us to pull up at the click of a return button. I would think the average church would appreciate this service.
During the mid 90's adds and junk mailings to houses of worship came in as the headings would read “Don’t Get Caught” and insinuating “Is Your Church Breaking the Law” or some sort of threat of being fined by the government for posting lyrics on an overhead without proper copyright license. This company seemed to have all the right things in place in order for us not to be fined. At every worship conference I attended there was a booth of some sort recruiting churches to sign up or be fined. I came back to my leaders about this urgency and we signed up. What was explained to me was with our license in hand we can now post our lyrics freely knowing that we're in compliance.
While using this wonderful service I realized that not all of our songs were in the catalog and I simply without knowing added songs into our database using the licenses number given by CCLI. Unknowingly I've kept this practice for years and my database grew without further research. Discovering now and noticing the songs I've added were from a more African American Baptist hymnals that was not in the CCLI database. When comparing my notes I'd noticed only a few made it to their list then I started my quest to finding out why was this.
For years I never paid attention to this infraction, the thought of one culture of songs were offered through this service and no other had me baffled. Although this is a worldwide private company offering this service only one style of music was being offered. The thought of hearing that I was worshiping the wrong way caused deep grief not only to members of our team but to me as well. I was determined to get to the bottom of this and decided to call CCLI. Upon my discoveries, in order to have the music legally copied and posted we must first contact the publisher to gain permission. Per song we must get a written form of permission either physical letter or via email granting permission for us to project lyrics, using chord carts, changing chords, handouts, lead sheets and more. Once we have obtained documents, then we can add it to our database with CCLI under our license number.
What’s next to follow is that CCLI will distribute the royalties to the perspective songwriters and pay per our use of the song. Keep in mind our church size per our annual fee with CCLI is $199. We sing in our liturgy seven songs weekly with some being recycled. If we do the math, you would see that we pay $ 1.80 per Sunday for the use of this license and I wonder what percentage goes to its songwriters? But that’s another discussion for later.
The idea of worshiping wrong by the standards of CCLI is disturbing. Why are they feeding fear to so many who believe that this must be the standard? In fact this is a Christian based organization. Why are they not representing every hymnal songs? Such as “Lead Me Guide Me” by Doris Akers or “Yes God is Real” by Martin & Morris, how about “Precious Lord Take My Hand” by Thomas Dorsey. I hope you see where I’m going. Per my conversation with a representative at CCLI they stated it’s not their fault if artists and publishers choose not to sign up with them. So I kindly replied why communicate a one-sided worship style and make it law? How is my worship different from yours? What makes your worship right and mine wrong? If we follow your permission route, it will take us senseless hours to get an approval and while we wait for that we can only use what we’ve signed up for. Your style only! I’m not a fan of that.
CCLI offers a great service and serves as a good resource for worship pastors and leaders. By me not complying caused strife between some of us. I was accused of bringing chaos to our team, worshiping God illegally and being in sin for using songs outside our database. How can we as a diverse church be diverse with having limited resources? It’s unfortunate you continue to support your styles and not reach out to a more diverse publishing and songwriter group. They are out there even songs that are of public domain. I know you could care less about a certain groups but hope you realize that heaven will be hosting diversity. For all of us came into the knowledge of Christ by some form and God knows the road we’ve all traveled. For now I continue to not only write my own music but still pull from my resources along with yours in leading the body of Christ in worship weekly.
It’s sad to know that I have broken relationships with such good friends who seem to think that I’m in sin with not following an agreement with CCLI. But the songs that encouraged me in the faith, I refuse to throw away due to some copyright infringement. Yes I want to share those songs in worship to encourage the body of Christ, along with your cultural songs that played a significant role in your walk as a Christian.
For those wondering if they are in violation according to CCLI and need to buy or join this group. As long as your church or house of worship meets the simple first-amendment-protected guidelines, then you don't need a worship-related license from anyone, not WorshipCast, OneLicense, LicenSing, CVLI, CCLI, Music Services, Word of Life, or anyone else. And if they're honest, their licensing salesmen will admit it.
