Aaron Green on music licensing, using copyrighted material in church and what is considered “fair use"

Using copyrighted music is an integral part of our Sunday morning services. CCLI covers many of the basics, but what about making a live CD of worship songs? What about using a Chris Tomlin song in your mission trip slideshow video? What about creating a parody for Mother’s Day? Aaron Green is the co-founder of EasySongLicensing.com, and he has seen it all. He works with churches and music publishers every single day, and he’s the go-to guy when you need to seek permission to use someone else’s work in your creative art. It’s not the most glamorous part of music ministry, but knowing what the law does and doesn’t allow you to do can save you a headache of legal issues down the road.

Using copyrighted music is an integral part of our Sunday morning services. CCLI covers many of the basics, but what about making a live CD of worship songs? What about using a Chris Tomlin song in your mission trip slideshow video? What about creating a parody for Mother's Day?

Find Aaron Green online:

Web: easysonglicensing.com
Facebook: facebook.com/easysonglicensing
Twitter: twitter.com/easylicensing
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/aaronrossgreen
Email: aaron@easysonglicensing.com

EasySongLicensing.com has been handling music licensing for churches and organizations for over a decade, and there isn’t a question they haven’t heard before. Whether it’s YouTube, film, stage, print, advertising or a cover song, they can make sure you’re taken care of.

The product of the month is SoundStripe. Download unlimited royalty-free songs for just $15 a month. Nearly all of the music you hear in my YouTube videos, social media promos and this podcast comes from SoundStripe.

Here’s some of the YouTube videos mentioned that also deal with using copyrighted material in your own content creation:

• What I've learned about song licensing for a live church worship CD

• Avoiding YouTube copyright strikes when live streaming your service

• Can my church record a CD with our CCLI license?

Here’s another YouTube video mentioned in the episode that is an example of using copyrighted material in my own work where I first had to do research to see what was permissible.

Finally, I mentioned creating parodies for the local fire department for their elementary school safety awareness program. One is a parody of a Justin Timberlake song and another is a Smash Mouth song.

• Safe Kid - parody of "All Star" by Smash Mouth

• Can't Stop The Safety Feeling - Parody of "Can't Stop The Feeling" by Justin Timberlake

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