Before playing that video,
make sure you have the rights to do so.
Photo provided by Sarej
[Guest post from Aaron West] “I paid for the movie, so I can show it whenever and wherever I want.” If only video licensing was that easy! A few days ago, music and copyright infringement was covered in detail. As mentioned, this has been something that’s been going on for years and unfortunately the copyright laws continue to modify as new technologies come out. More recently, public playing of videos has emerged with the help of the internet and digital devices. It’s no longer limited to theaters and movie rental stores (does anybody remember those days of renting a VHS tape and the VHS PLAYER too???). So, what are the rules for videos, especially in the church? Well, like before, let’s look at a couple of myths first.
Top Three Video Copyright Myths and Proper Video Licensing
Myth #1: “The church owns the DVD of a movie, so we can show it at our youth events.”
Truth:
I’ll be the first to admit to thinking, “I paid for the movie, so I can show it whenever and wherever I want.” Wrong answer! What you paid for was a copy of the movie and a license to show it in a private setting (usually defined as a home) with a limited audience. Anything more and you need an additional license (see below). In fact, even if the church bought the movie, the license is still for the private showing, not a public viewing. And as bad as I hate to say it, this means you can’t show that Veggie Tales episode to the pre-school group without the public license.
To show a DVD publically, you need to not only have a physical copy of it (purchased, rented, or borrowed), but you must also pay an additional license for public viewing. The great thing is there are a few great organizations that can help you do this. The first place I recommend is CCLI’s video arm, CVLI (which can be purchased as an add-on to your CCLI).
Myth #2: “We aren’t charging an admission to watch the movie, so we don’t need a license.”
Truth:
Again, this isn’t true. Whether you are charging admission or not, you need a license. In fact, if you are charging admission, you need to know that your CVLI or MPLC license won’t cover this. You need to take it one step further.
Myth #3: “It’s on YouTube/GodTube/Vimeo/etc., so I can show it publically.”
Truth:
Actually, playing any video from these websites publically is a violation of copyright laws. In fact, if you read each of their fine print, you will find that they specifically talk about private viewing only. Ripping videos from these sites is also a violation of their usage terms and can get your account suspended from them. Technically, many of the videos on YouTube themselves are in violation of copyright. Users are posting audio and video on YouTube when they aren’t the copyright holder, which is a copyright infringement. YouTube is working hard to bring violators down as quickly as they can, but it’s hard when there are 24 hours of video uploaded every second to YouTube. These users can be fined. And if you rip one of these videos and show it publically, you can be fined as well. Don’t let yourself get into one of these positions.
[Note from Chris: Some online videos are marked by the originator as available for Public / Commercial use under the Creative Commons license. You can use these but if a user by the name of IHATECOPYRIGHTREGULATIONS has uploaded a clip of a movie and declared it Creative Commons then you need to know they are doing so illegally. Use your head. One other note, there is a usage allotment of copyrighted material which allows for “fair use” without worry of copyright infringement. You can see the legal description of “fair use” on youtube’s site here.]
Use of Video in Broadcasting / Re-broadcasting
If you are planning on broadcasting any of these videos via the web or television (whether live or delayed) or via DVD or digital video, you must acquire a separate license for this type of usage. This is important for satellite locations or simul-casting an event. Just make sure you are doing your research and asking questions. Ignorance is not a defense when it comes to copyright law.
Repeated Use of Content
If there is a movie or movie clip that you want to use on a regular basis (i.e. a background clip that fits the theme of your church that you would use weekly for the next 3-5 years), then you can contact the studios directly and work on a contract for that particular clip with them. Lots of them will negotiate with you to get what you need, but it will be a onetime fee which may give you more rights than just an umbrella license with a yearly (or every time you use it) fee.
Going Forward
So, what do you do now? Just like with music, access your needs. There are a variety of packages listed above. Call each of the providers and talk through your potential needs and find what works best for your congregation. Think through every possible scenario and ask lots of questions. You want to make sure you are in compliance with the law (from an integrity standpoint), but you also want to make sure that you are rewarding the actors, directors, producers, crew, etc. that created the film for your usage. Remember, you are to be a light in this world and stealing movies, whether you agree with the principle or not, is not what the church needs to be known for.
This has been a guest post by Aaron West, A/V Coordinator for Dave Ramsey and Chief Consultant for The 1AV Guy, Co. Under the umbrella of Chief Consultant, Aaron works with churches in the areas of technical design, installation management, and support / training with the desire to support those churches so they can be good stewards with their money, time, gear, and volunteers. You can contact Aaron via twitter or email him at [email]1avguyemail@gmail.com[/email].
Mitch says
August 15, 2017 at 1:34 pmYou should also mention WingClips.com and ClipShout.com which also provides licensed use of movie clips for teaching and sermons.
Gloria says
July 6, 2016 at 6:37 amCan you show a youtube video in church if you haven’t downloaded the video, but are showing the video directly from youtube.com?
Chris Huff says
July 8, 2016 at 9:29 amIt all depends on the video content. Considering your questions, you should contact the company I referenced in this article for more information.
Mitch says
April 29, 2015 at 2:01 pmClipShout.com also provides permission for the public exhibition of movie clips. Their clips are not downloadable like WingClips.com. But ClipShout is an unlimited usage subscription and much more mobil friendly.
Mitch says
April 30, 2014 at 2:37 pmWingClips.com has exclusive contracts with several major film studios to provide their movie clips to teachers and pastors through the WingClips website. Each film title and each individual clip is approved by the studio before posting to WingClips. All the clips are searchable by teaching themes, title, and scriptures so you can easily find the most appropriate movie clip for your message. There is a nominal fee for most clips, that’s a small fraction of the cost of traditional licensing. There are also free promotional clips available from many current titles.
Ryan Murphy says
June 9, 2013 at 1:15 pmCan anyone furth explain the online rules. Any places to gain the permissions and what that cost is? Would an on campus venue be in copyright of the cvli I already own?
Aaron West says
June 12, 2013 at 5:59 pmRyan,
Not knowing for sure what you mean by “online rules,” I’ll approach both aspects (for the sake of sharing knowledge). If neither of these are what you are talking about, just let us know.
Scenario 1: I have a video that is found online (YouTube, GodTube, etc.) and I want to play it in my church. How do I go about doing that?
Answer: The only way to do this legally is to get permission from the Copyright holder of the video (or someone who has the rights to license it to you). For instance, a quick search on YouTube for “Chris Tomlin How Great is Our God” gives you 341,000 results. Now, many of these may be from a live concert that he performed and it is video from the users phone or camera (which in and of itself may be illegal depending on the concert requirements when they attended, but that’s another story). Now, one of the many things I saw with this search is plenty of users are taking the audio recording of this song from Chris Tomlin’s album and adding their own graphics and videos (also note, unless these users have received written permission from the label to use this song, they are also in violation of copyright, but again, another story). So let’s say you like one and want to play it. Legally, you have the responsibility to get written permission (email is valid) of everyone who owns some type of copyright on the video. Many times, this is a single person or entity and all you have to do is contact them, let them know your planned usage, and see what the fee is (some are generous to churches, too). Other times, you may have to get with 2 or more different people and get permission and pay fees to each one separately. In the example above, you would need the user’s permission (assuming they created the video) and the label’s permission (since they created the song). Good news is that depending on what CCLI you have, the second part may be covered for certain songs.
The rule of thumb here is to think of everyone who has had a part in creating what you want to show and they all deserve to get their portion for the part they played.
Scenario 2: You have videos that are covered under your licenses (CVLI, Swank, Criterion, etc.) but you want to put them online for others to see (maybe as a live simulcast, a delayed broadcast, or just a sermon illustration). How do you do that?
Answer: Broadcast and replay licenses are much harder to come by and are usually much more expensive (instead of having a local audience of 1,000 watching, you now have the potential audience of hundreds of thousands or even millions). The owner wants to protect his hard work and get the compensation he deserves, so he may not want his video just floating out there. You can contact your licensing company (CVLI, Swank, Criterion, etc.) to get more details on how to get these licenses, or you can also contact the copyright owners directly. Since I started doing this, I’ve discovered that there is a Rule of 12 when it comes to this – you will talk to 12 different people with an organization before you get to the right one who can give you permission to use it. I promise. So be patient and give yourself enough time (don’t try to do it on the Saturday before services on Sunday).
The last part of the question (I’m not entirely sure of either what you mean), what I think you are asking is: We have a CCLI for our main room, but we have a secondary worship area in the same building. Is it covered by CCLI?
Answer: As long as the other worship area is part of the church body the CCLI is administered for (not a separate-named church meeting in your space) and it is on your campus, then you have the full rights allowed by the CCLI. Note: this does not mean you can broadcast copyrighted material from either location out onto the web. Check out CCLI’s page for what you can and can not do: http://www.ccli.com/Support/LicenseCoverage/LicenseManual.aspx.
Great questions!
Bruce says
May 31, 2013 at 5:11 pmI seem to recall that your church could be liable for copyright infringement, but you personally could also be held liable. Even if it wasn’t your decision to show the material, you could be in trouble. This is a very touchy area, with so much ignorance. As onerous as these copyright laws seem to be, the creators and owners of copyrighted material are entitled to their work and justified in being compensated for its use. Thanks for publishing these articles.