Many of the older hymns, sung in their original composition, fall into the public domain, and therefore you do not need a copyright license to use them. If you sing any other hymns or songs, you have two options. First, you can purchase a copy of the song for each singer. Therefore, a quartet would need four copies, but the congregation would need a copy for each person present. If people hold hymnbooks, you can share them. However, if you use music on a screen, you need a hymnbook for each person present.

Secondly, you need to purchase a music copyright license. Why is this so important? Well, not doing this is legally and biblically stealing. How can we pray for God’s blessing upon our services as we are stealing the music we use?

Lastly, if you are going to do live streaming of your services, you will need a streaming license unless you only sing public domain hymns.

Where to get a license?

CCLI Copyright License

Licenses are priced according to the average attendance of your services.

The CCLI Copyright License is tailored to your congregational singing activities and provides broad coverage for lyric storage, projections, song sheets, bulletin inserts, instrumental/vocal arrangements and service recordings. Optional rehearsal coverage enables duplication and sharing of commercial audio recordings, and custom rehearsal tracks. Optional coverage is also available for streaming or podcasting recorded services.