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Copyright and Public Performance licences
PCC members need to ensure
that their church activities, and the activities of groups using the church
hall, if there is one, comply with the law of copyright.
There is widespread
ignorance of what copyright actually means. When a new licence (PPL) came into
operation on 1 January 2012 an advisory notice from one diocese (in December
2011…) suggested that when a church buys a set of hymnals it also acquires the
copyright in the contents. That is dangerously misleading nonsense. All that
comes with a set of hymnals is the implicit permission to perform the contents
during acts of divine worship (including weddings and funerals.) And even
though the words and music of a hymn may be centuries old, there is copyright
in the typographical layout of all printed material, including pages in the
hymn book.
So – lock up your church
photocopier until you’ve acquainted yourself with the finer points of copyright
law.
This is a good start –
and I’m afraid it gets
worse.
Which of these statements
is true?
1) we can show a DVD of The Sound of Music at an MU
meeting without having to bother with stuff like licences
2) we can watch telly by hooking up a wi-fi tablet to
the computer projector in the hall
without having to bother with stuff like licences
3) we can video a concert in church and sell DVDs to
raise funds without having to bother with stuff like licences
4) When we’ve got broadband in the hall we’ll be able
to look at YouTube videos as well as watch programmes on I-Player without having to bother with stuff like licences
5) We can have as many concerts in church and hall as
we like without having to bother with stuff like licences
6) We’ve got all the licences we need. They cover the
church hall across the road as well as church itself.
7) I own a book of Pam Ayres’ poetry, so I can read
some of them at WI.
8) We’ve got a local authority entertainment
licence, so we can put plays on in the parish hall.
None of them is true, of
course.
1) Showing a commercial DVD in public, whether or not
the audience has paid to come in, needs several different licences.
2) You’d need a church video licence AND a TV
licence
3) Not if any of the music performed is still in
copyright. Again, licences are needed.
4) No you can’t. You’d need a TV licence and a church video licence
5) No you can’t. You’d need both a PPL licence and a
PRS licence. You’re allowed six
concerts/recitals a year without further payment or reporting back. Any more
than that and PRS will deem your church or hall a Concert Venue, and then you’re in the
business of reporting what’s been performed and paying the due fees, which go
up as your audience size increases (so you need to count your audiences as
well.)
6) No. Separate licences are needed for hall and
church if they’re not physically linked, because some licences are premises
licences, not event licences.
7) No you can’t, at least not without Pam Ayres’
permission or the permission of her agent(s), and you can expect to have to pay
a fee.
Read
this:
8) Oddly enough you can’t. To perform straight plays
(as opposed to putting on musical shows like Gilbert & Sullivan comic
operas) you need a special licence from your local council. It’s an historical
anomaly; a hangover from the bad old days of theatre censorship (in 1737 Robert
Walpole, then First Lord of the Treasury, got so miffed with always being
satirised by playwrights that the lord Chamberlain was given the power to vet
every play before it could be staged and to demand whatever changes he saw fit
Fortunately, most of the
licences a church might need are managed by a single body – CCLI (Christian
Copyright Licensing International)
and this is a quick link
to which licences your church might need
Other useful sites are
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Thank you for reading.
If you’re a new PCC member this is probably everything you need to get started,
and all in one place, too!. If it has helped you, please pass the link on and
help other new PCC members learn the ropes, or download the article and modify
it to your heart’s content, without the risk of my chasing you for breach of
copyright. And if you can suggest more useful
links, please do, via the Comments box.
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