The Christian Copyright Licensing International

One of the tasks associated with producing the words of hymns on the screen Sunday by Sunday is ensuring the annual data for input to the CCLI for which we pay an annual licence fee. This enables us legally to reproduce copyright hymn words or store and project them onto a screen. The licence covers hundreds, if not thousands, of hymns. Many of the hymns in ‘Rejoice and Sing’, being quite old (e.g., ‘Ye holy angels bright’ by Richard Baxter (1615-91), are out of copyright, and classified as being in the ‘Public Domain’. The holders of the copyright for modern hymns are conveniently listed in the indexes at the back of the tune books.

Each week I have to go through the hymns used and enter the copyright hymns used into the CCLI database. These results are submitted annualy to ensure that the licence fees are correctly allocated to the correct copyright holders. With me so far?

The problem comes when I am presented with hymn words with either no copyright information or copyright details which are not covered by CCLI. In the first case I have to do various internet searches to try and find the details, and then apply to the copyright holder for permission to project the words – and sometimes I am successful! If I am not, I trust that my efforts to ‘get legal’ are sufficient to get me off the hook if I am accused of breach of the Copyright law.

For the second case, where we have details of the copyright holder but the hymn is not covered by CCLI, let me tell you a story (is this phrase copyright of Max Bygraves?!)

Look at hymn 166 in ‘Rejoice and Sing’, ‘Come and join the celebration’. There is a note at the bottom saying ‘Copyright © High-Fye Music Ltd’ with an address. That was when the trouble started!

I did internet searches, but found no contact details. I emailed the URC – no reply! Today I rang the Oxford University Press, who published R&S for the URC, and left a message. I then rang Directory Enquiries, who said that there was no company of that name in the UK. ‘What?’ I thought, ‘no company of that name? Let’s try the Companies House register!’ So I went back to internet and to the Companies House database, where I found that High-Fye Music Ltd still existed. So I rang Companies House, and a lady confirmed their existence, and gave me their address, in Berners St., W1T 3LJ – but she had no telephone number for them.

So, back to another internet search, this time to Royal Mail, where I put in the post code; the address was confirmed, with the information that two companies were operating from there, one of which was Music Sales Ltd. Almost there, I thought!
Back to Directory Enquiries – yes, they had a number for Music Sales, to which they connected me. A lady answered who, in answer to my query, replied that High-Fye Music was part of their organisation – yippee! There was no answer from the extension, so I left a message with details.

Then a lady rang back from the OUP, saying that she had established the connection between High-Fye and Music Sales, so I passed on the information that I had gleaned so far, for which she was very grateful.

I got tired of waiting so rang Music Sales again. I got through to Carolyn, who confirmed that she dealt with copyright licences for ‘Come and join the celebration’, that there would be a fee payable to store and project the words, and she asked me to email her with details, including my request for multiple uses – which I have done.

And that’s where we are at the moment. Watch out for the next exciting episode!