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[Worship] not CCLI FAQ but instead Christian Music FAQ
Hi folks,
Someone just privately sent me a very good question about the
new licensing and copyright FAQ I am heading up with a team
of 10+ people. The question was:
>maybe I just don't
>get it...but...it seems to me like CCLI might be the ones to offer
>support and help in this area. We are paying them aren't we?
>I don't get why we would be the ones to put together a question and
>answer list of the service we are paying them for....
That is a very good question.
I had initially announced this to be a CCLI FAQ, with CCLI compliant
answers. Then, as I began organizing the last 150 messages I've
collected on copyright topics since mid-June 1998, it occurred to me
that many of the questions that have been asked are not at all
under CCLI jurisdiction.
For example: how do I copyright and register my own song?
This type of question has been asked and answered a million times on
these worship discussion lists, but CCLI really doesn't deal with that
topic at all. CCLI only deals with post-publication and distribution of
authorized songs, from what I can tell, yet many of the questions
appearing on these lists pertain to pre-publication or even public
domain issues.
So, since the FAQ is certainly going to cover a range of questions and
answer that are above and beyond CCLI, we've changed the name,
tentatively, to the "Christian Music license and copyright FAQ". It might
go through another slight revision over time, depending on what the
content eventually reveals.
This project is in a way like proposing and writing a PhD thesis.
At the proposal stage, one must get some initial ideas, do some
background research and propose a topic with explanation.
That is why it is called a "proposal". Then as the research
develops, the chapters are written , the new data and findings
often show that the original title was incomplete or not entirely
appropriate. So the thesis title at the end
is revised to reflect the content that results from a few years of
work. That is in a way how I have gone about things with this new
FAQ. It's only been underway for 2 weeks, and now it has much
clearer direction and there is a team of 10 people to help me
do it.
The final FAQ will be composed of questions, either posted verbatim
or reformulated for clarity, that have appeared on the
worship discussion lists that I have been subscribed to. No names
or e-mail addresses will be attributed to questions in the FAQ, in
order to preserve anonymity.
We will organize the questions according to categories that the
questions themselves indicate.
There will probably be a large section that relates to CCLI
jurisdiction, but from what I can tell, there will be other sections as
well.
Our attempt will be to answer each question/set of similar questions
with answers that have come from a CCLI statement and/or
other individuals who will remain anonymous.
Our goal is to provide individuals, churches, publishers,
etc with information. One of our objectives is to use real
"user" questions as the driving force for getting answers.
Sure, I could send the whole batch of 200+ messages to CCLI and
say "read all of this and give your answers to all of the questions
that you need to answer". Well, CCLI has better things to do than
to filter through all of our questions, often showing a lot of
confusion, and decide what is in their jurisdiction, and what isn't.
Then to go through and answer them. But would those answers
be categorized in a way that would fit within a larger framework
of questions posed on these lists that also need answers?
I doubt it! And when would they find time to figure out and answer
these questions with their existing resources?
And should they hire more resources to do this? Does that mean
that our churches should pay CCLI increased subscription dues
for better explanations?
I even thought of having CCLI hire me as a consultant to do this
work. But, as I began to think about it, I realized that this isn't a
question of money, or even time, for me. It's a question of having
the necessary information and doing what I am supposed to
do with "concrete reference materials" (i.e. transparencies,
songbooks, chord charts, worship tapes, etc) with something
that I love to do: sing to, praise and worship God. And I want
others know their responsibilities too.
We now have a team of volunteers for this FAQ who want to use their
skills and abilities to put together an informative document and make
it available to every church possible.
The job of this FAQ team is to figure out what the main questions
are, and then, for the issues that pertain to CCLI, give them a call
and get their answer and/or send them an e-mail message and
get a written reply that we can simply post in the FAQ.
Will CCLI host or sponsor the FAQ? No, we will.
Will CCLI have a chance to answer the questions? Yes.
Will we include other interpretations to issues? Yes, if and when
we find them.
How will we advertise the FAQ and disseminate the information?
We have a special role called "advertisers" who will research
this.
I'm still looking for volunteers in that area.
Will the FAQ be perfect? I doubt it.
Will the FAQ be informative? You bet it will.
I've just seen too many list subscribers say in their messages that
their church is breaking the law, and there is no clear-cut document
to present to the worship team, the worship committee, the elder or
trustee board on the matter. Well, this new FAQ will be as clear
and "user-oriented" as we are going to get on this subject for a long
time.
I'm tired of waiting for someone else to "make the call", "get informed"
"send the e-mail message", etc. We've got people on these
discussion lists who are swimming in circles about the
license and copyright issues. We live in a world where many people
think "well, what I don't know won't hurt me, so it's better to
remain ignorant". Well, copyright infringement is not a pretty
story if you get caught.
A few of us are willing to donate some of our free time to serve our
churches and others.
Glad to be doing it.
Jeff
translators@juno.com
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