For those of you who are new to the site, I had previously been including the music from our worship services on the website. Various things began to gnaw at me to make me think that in doing so I might be, and in fact was, violating copyright laws however honorable my intentions.

One of those things was that I began to notice that most other churches didn't include music on their sites, only spoken messages.

Turned out my suspicions were correct. So I removed all the music links and deleted the music from the website.

I am sorry for those of you who depend on this as a source for your enjoyment of our services with the music. That does not mean you cannot still hear them. Our CCLI license appear to entitle us to make a limited number of copies of our service, primarily for shut-ins. So if you are unable to attend services and want to hear them with the music, you may be able to get a copy from FBTC. That decision is up to someone other than me.

If you want to hear the messages they will continue to be here. We use them here with the permission and encouragement of the people who deliver them.

In theory we could get permission from the owners of each and every song, arrangement and background performance and/or pay a fee for the use of them in this medium — but quite frankly, as much as I would like to be able to share the musical talent God has blessed us with at FBTC. However, unless and until we get the proper licenses we cannot do it.

Yes we do.

You know that little note on the bottom of the screen on the last slide of song lyrics? That indicates (and is required to be there) that FBTC pays for a license that entitles us to put those lyrics up on the screen.

However, that license does not entitle us to broadcast the music in any format in any medium, including the Internet.

That requires a special broadcast license which we could purchase if "webcasting" were deemed important enough.

To broadcast without that license is in violation of the copyright laws of the United States of America. From both a personal position and as a de facto representative of FBTC I want my actions to be, as far as possible, above reproach. I trust as members and friends of FBTC you would expect nothing less from me.

My sources of information are CCLI and CCA.

CCLI is Christian Copyright Licensing International. You will see on the last slide of each song there is a CCLI# along with copyright information about the song. That number is issued to dues paying members of CCLI. They are an organization that helps us comply with applicable copyright laws.

By the way, I called CCLI offices and spoke to someone there to be certain I was correctly interpreting what I read. Not only did they confirm that, they also directed me to some information that clarified beyond doubt another question I had.

That question concerned "webcasting" of our live performances. That is music that is performed with our Celebration Orchestra or other instrumentalists providing the accompaniment music.

The answer is that we cannot legally do so without proper licensing.

The other, and most compelling website. I visited is CCA which is the Church Copyright Administration. You may want to look in particular at their faq (Frequently Asked Questions) section which explains how churches typically, albeit unknowingly, violate copyright law.

The are you covered? page answers lots of questions in detail. Read this and you will not have any doubts about what churches may or may not do with music.

Would we like to do it? We surely would. The question is; "Is that judicial use of God's money?" I think it could be, however I think we need to see an increase in traffic. On the other hand, the argument could me made that "If you play them they will come."

What do you think? Let us know.

There are any number of compelling reasons for paying for "God's gifts." We do it all the time. We pay pastors for their gifts. We pay church staff for their gifts. We pay outside contractors for their gifts. Why are songwriters, performers, publishers and so on any different? The short answer is, "they're not." Period.

A slightly more amusing way to get an answer to this and other questions about copyrights is to "Ask the Copyright Queen" on the CCA site. I encourage you to check it out. She may be the homeliest queen you've ever seen, but she knows whereof she speaks. The last question on her list addresses this issue. Incidentally, you have to click on "Ask The Queen" after you've chosen your question.

So, the bottom line is that we need to be faithful to "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's" and do the right thing as we honestly understand what that is. We don't have to like it, we just have to do it because it is the right thing.

I hope that you understand my position. Beyond that, I hope you agree that it is the right thing to do and support my decision to do whatever will bring glory to Jesus as it has been revealed to me.

According to applicable copyright law, we (corporately or individually) are not permitted to make any copies of recorded background music any more than we are allowed to copy music CD's, movies or copyrighted printed material. We are obligated to do what we understand to be the right thing.

And what does the Bible say?

Matthew 22:15-22 (NKJV)

¹⁵ Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk.
¹⁶ And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men.
¹⁷ "Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"
¹⁸ But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?
¹⁹ "Show Me the tax money." So they brought Him a denarius.
²⁰ And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?"
²¹ They said to Him, "Caesar's." And He said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
²² When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.

I think that could be also be "render unto writers, arrangers, musicians, recording companies et al" the payment to which they are entitled for their efforts.

Questions or comments? Contact the webmaster.