Livestreaming Mass

The U. S. Copyright Act has an exemption for using copyrighted works in worship services without the author's permission. However, this only includes music used during the religious service. It does not cover livestreaming, broadcasting, or recording copyrighted works.


The gist of this is that you are free to use any copyrighted material that is included in a hymnal or memorized in a live worship service that is not being broadcasted or rebroadcasted, i.e. on a website or Facebook for those who didn't see it live. You may not use the hymnal material in livestreaming or rebroadcasting without having permission from the copyright holder.


As an example, you are using the following:

Prelude: Some copyrighted instrumental work.

Entrance: Holy, Holy, Holy (public domain)

Offertory: Beautiful Savior

Communion: Gift of Finest Wheat (Octavo or Anthem by Choir)

Recessional: Holy God, We Praise Thy Name (public domain)

Postlude: Some copyrighted instrumental work.


In a normal Mass, if you had printed worship aids and you printed the words and/or music to Beautiful Savior and Gift of Finest Wheat, you would need to have a license to reprint those. The rest of the music would be exempt from the copyright act.


If you livestreamed this Mass, you would have to have a license to reprint everything except Holy, Holy, Holy and Holy God, We Praise Thy Name. If you also had online worship aids or printed worship aids, you would also need to report those as you do the livestreaming. Fortunately, OneLicense gives you the option of reporting those at the same time.


PENALTIES: The penalties for willful infringement of copyright laws can be quite harsh. The owner of a copyright who has registered their work (this is not necessary, a work is copyrighted when it is done), can recover statutory damages (damages listed in the copyright law) ranging from $750 to $30,000 per work, or up to $150,000 per work for willful infringement. If the copyrighted material is not registered, the owner is still entitled to monetary damages upon proof of ownership of the work. If you use it without intending to infringe on the author's rights, you will find this is not a defense to copyright infringement.