Music Copyright and Tri State Tres Dias

What is this and why is it so important?

When authors, including songwriters, secure “Copyright” protection, it establishes credit for and ownership of the composition; it provides legal recourse against plagiarism and unapproved use; and it sets up a means for receiving compensation (royalties) for their creative work.

CCLI (Christian Copyright and Licensing Inc) was established about 30 years ago to make it easier for groups like ours to copy music legally and give the royalties to composers. We joined this group in its infancy (because of the explosion of new Christian songs which were not in the songbooks we regularly used). We pay a fee annually to CCLI; that money gets distributed to songwriters. There is a system of reporting the songs we reproduce so that the money gets distributed equitably. If we don't report the songs we copy - for printing or projection - we are disobeying the law, and could be sued.

LicenSingonline.com is another copyright licensing organization that handles royalties for writers / publishers of songs like “Be Not Afraid” and “Here I am, Lord”. (CCLI doesn’t cover all music.) We joined this group 2 years ago since it became obvious that reprinting one song for one occasion was almost as costly as buying a year’s license that covers thousands of songs. For those of you who remember, those were the songs we sang from the “Glory and Praise” songbooks.

By obeying the rules of CCLI and LicenSingonline.org we may reprint as much music as we desire (but for use only by our TD Community) using their guidelines for copying and reporting.

There are rules and procedures for anyone who reproduces words to use at Secuela, 4th Day weekend activities, Formations and Weekends. Those will soon appear on our website, should you desire further information.

Thanks for obeying Copyright regulations. It is the LAW, but its also the GRACE-FILLED thing to do for those who inspired creations to enhance our worship and praise to GOD!

Ann H. Moore
Tri State Cursillo (Tres Dias) #5