[Worship] Copyright Compliance for Churches, updates in 2021

[First Unitarian Universalist Society of Marietta]

Hi everyone,

Randall suggested that there might be some legal requirements for me to cite musical selections and hymns in the order of service. So I Googled a bit, and came up with this: https://www.ucc.org/copyright-compliance-basics-for-churches/

YIKES.  Looks like we can sing hymns, but we can’t type up lyrics in the OOS or for on screen, or for streaming/Facebook. We should not be showing YouTube videos during service. And while the choir can perform a song, that doesn’t mean we can  post it on YouTube for rebroadcast (which seems CRAZY). Reading complete poems or long excerpts from books requires permission from the copyright owner—especially if the service is being streamed or recorded. 

And posting photos on our website requires PERMISSION from everyone in every image!!

Man, oh man. I encourage you to spend some time on that website and discuss among yourselves. 

Regarding citations in the OOS: It’s a good idea to be thorough, but I couldn’t find any legal requirements. (Like, do I need to credit the arranger? The person who wrote the harmony? I don’t think so.)

FYI. Sorry to complicate things. 

Dawn Hewitt
Office assistant
First Unitarian Universalist Society of Marietta, Ohio
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