Copyright Perspective: View from Both Sides of the Table

Rich Kirkpatrick is a writer, speaker and creative leader. He blogs at RKWeblog.com and hosts a podcast about worship WorshipMythbusters.com.

I confess, as a creative person, the mundane and repeated details seem to get in the way. Some detail is better procrastinated, or so I thought.  I used to think copyright management was one of those details until I realized that every action of ethics in my dealings in life is connected to real people like me.

As a songwriter, some of the meager royalties over the years funded my ability to actually give away my whole catalog online. What if, however, more people reported and complied with copyrights? What could that resource I created have done for creating more music for the church?

I have been on both sides of the table. As a worship leader, there have been times when I have copied sheet music or synced a video to a song without permission. And as a staff member, I have worked for superiors who would not respect the view that copyrights are important.

Part of this is education. Part of it is stubborn ignorance. Both are not an excuse. Real people lose. And, your church is losing something morally for not reporting usage just like you would be if you did not pay your bills.

Everything we do as a church speaks louder than our words. If a church does not pay the bills, local vendors will have an impression about that church. Real people are touched by the sloppy accounting. A small business owner may have to forgo his salary or a portion of it. His attitude then about that church damages the voice of a whole group of people. Worse than this is when there are similar issues in the local church that are bigger than one church like copyright compliance. Real people lose.

Details are important. And, yes, copyrights require attention to detail. There is no excuse for you or I to be lazy with the livelihood of real people. The work we do in church is not just about putting together a great service or video; it is about how we do those things. The ends and the means are one in the same in the ethic of ministry. This is true because you cannot say you obey the First Commandment without obeying the Second as well.

If you struggle with details like I have, here are some tips:

Delegate.
Simply, hand over the process of copyrights to a detail junkie who is OCD about it. God gifts us differently, so enable someone different than you.

Clear a day, not your desk.
Some are far better at making a process you can keep rather than lists. Set reminders on your cell phone or Google Calendar to deal with issues you do not love.

Educate.
It is your job to present possible threats to your leaders. Copyright infringement is a threat. Someday it could harm the church to be found out, even financially if not by reputation.

Get help.
Use your network of other ministry creative leaders to steal their best process and get advice on vendors. Use Copyright Solver or others to assist the process.

How do you think ethics impact your church’s copyright compliance policies?
Leave a comment for Rich or CopyrightCommunity below.

Short URL: http://www.copyrightcommunity.com/?p=2768

Posted by Rich Kirkpatrick on Jan 9 2012. Filed under Basics for Churches, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry