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| Courtesy of http://www.sffaudio.com/?p=2837 |
As someone who works in the media department of a church I
am constantly making sure that what we are producing is legal. Sometimes this can
be a difficult feat when YouTube™ videos are so easy to download and manipulate
and images can be copied and pasted seamlessly.
What laws is the church breaking? Copyright and trademark
laws are the most commonly broken without even realizing it. ShareFaith.com
lists some of the common copyright infringements that churches commit like
making photocopies of sheet music and recording the worship service for
distribution. At the church I work at we do record our services and stream them
live which brings up new challenges with copyright laws. We bought a CCLI
(Christian Copyright Licensing International) license that allows us to not
only reproduce music, project lyrics on the screen but to broadcast it over the
Internet. What our license does not cover is distributing or selling our
services with these songs on it so for the CDs and DVDs we only use the pastor’s
preaching. Another infringement many churches make is taking a public domain photo
or graphic from an image search and not referencing it where the photo/graphic
was taken from. Whether it is using the photo or graphic during a sermon
illustration or on a social networking site a reference should always be placed
somewhere near that photo or graphic.
To download or not download a YouTube™ video, that is the question.
Just like taking an image from an image search without permission or a
reference is an infringement so is taking a video off of YouTube™
without permission or paying for it. Churches are guilty of this kind of
infringement without even knowing it. So how can a church avoid infringing on
copyright laws with YouTube™ videos? According to the terms of
service for YouTube™, you have to ask for permission either from YouTube™ or
the owner of the video if there is a common creative license attached. There
are some videos that have a download link available but you still need to find
out if it is okay to show this video in a public setting. Also, there are
videos that you can pay for off of the video site.
My opinion on how to keep churches legal in regards to media
is to search out sites that are subscription based for photos, music, graphics
and videos. Use these pay sites as much as possible and only use sites like
YouTube™
if necessary, and seek out permission. Great sites are Sharefaith.com,
Gracewaymedia.com, VideoBlocks.com, SkitGuys.com and iTunes.
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