youtube downloads with a CCLI license

[mreeed]

Hi, I am new to having 'responsibility' for praise and worship at my congregation. We have a CCLI license, but it is taking me some time to actually get the info for it because it seems we don't usually use it directly, but for legal copyright protection I guess, and we are under a multi-site license, and that seems to complicate things.

Three quarters of the year we have a husband-wife couple who plays the music and it is a well-oiled machine, and this seems typiccal of what CCLI is for. When they go away for the winter we have been downloading from youtube since we have no one else who can play for us.

I am assured that this is no problem, everything is on the up-and-up from good people who take a pragmatic view of things, but I am the kind of person who likes to make sure of these things from the proper sources and not make assumptions. I am hesitant to use Youtube Downloader since it seems the general rule it is not legit per youtube even if it might be on the music copyright angle.

It seems like this area may fall into a grey area between CCLI (have started to speak to) and Youtube so wondering if anyone has experience with any of this and who you might direct me to?

 

[Ken Behrens]

As i understand it, the downloads violate youtube policy. CCLI is for words and arrangements of the music. If you have wifi in the church, just play the video to sing with, and put the words on the screen, just as you would when the couple play.

 

[mreeed]

Thank you Ken. We technically do have wifi in the church, but in practice in the basement where our worship space now is, it often is not reliable. That helps me see where this issue may have come up though, since previous years we had a main floor space where we likely were able to do exactly what you are suggesting, and perhaps it was seen as an equivalent matter to download what we used to stream (if that is the word). Not sure what our other options might be; we are a small congregation and don't have the resources to buy everything we'd like to sing.

I am not tech savvy enough to know whether we could find a weird reliable spot for a small device maybe near a window or something to get the actual wifi and then relay it somehow to the laptop where the songs are doubleclicked on to play and wired to the amplification system? And if there is no such spot, or no reasonable way to accommodate, what else might we do?

 

[Bass4Jesus]

Your router is upstairs, I assume. Ideally you should make the connection to the basement wired, not wireless. Your wireless router almost certainly has wired ports in back. Maximum cable length is 328 feet. Don't "break" that spec or you will have problems. If you need a longer run, put an Ethernet switch (not router) in the middle somewhere between the two long segments. If you can't find anyone in your church who can fish the cable through the walls, run the cable along the wall surfaces; hug the door trims and baseboards and enclose it in a raceway for appearance's sake. Go with Cat 6 cable. You can also use 6e if you want, to future-proof the installation, but for now and the next few years 6e would be overkill.

You could also buy a WiFi range extender, but I have several problems with those. First and foremost, you're already broadcasting your network outside the building with your current setup, and an extender will make things even less secure. Second, I've had spotty luck at best with range extenders; they often refuse to play with each other reliably. Third, you have to run power to a range extender and you probably have to configure it in some fashion. Fourth, it's one more active device in the network that can potentially go bad due to a power spike. Fifth, it's one more wireless network device that might have security vulnerabilities, perhaps uncovered at some later date, and I'll bet you don't have any I.T. people in your church who actively (weekly at least) keep tabs on that sort of thing.

Hope this helps.

 

[Ken Behrens]

Just a reminder CCLI stream license is different from the basic CCLI license. If the music is on the livestream and/or archived on the internet anywhere, you need the second license as well.

 

[mreeed]

Thank you bass4Jesus, I will keep this in mind as a longer term potential solution, we are just renting, and the P&W leaders are also our main liaison with those who operate the building. I think there are only 3 weeks or so till they come back.

Ken, first I don't believe we livestream, and second I think you're saying that to download and play music that is archived we need this second license? By music that is archived, do you mean any music that exists or is stored on the internet? Or is there any distinction as far as commercial recordings available say on CD or download for fee? Is music available to download from CCLI with this license?

What about other sites where downloading may be more accepted given the CCLI license? As far as I could tell from their TOS, Godtube does not disallow downloading, but I'm not too familiar with downloading what is the best / most legitimate way or resource to do this?

 

[Ken Behrens]

Ken, first I don't believe we livestream, and second I think you're saying that to download and play music that is archived we need this second license? By music that is archived, do you mean any music that exists or is stored on the internet? Or is there any distinction as far as commercial recordings available say on CD or download for fee? Is music available to download from CCLI with this license?

What about other sites where downloading may be more accepted given the CCLI license? As far as I could tell from their TOS, Godtube does not disallow downloading, but I'm not too familiar with downloading what is the best / most legitimate way or resource to do this?

You used the word "Stream" in your first post. I thought you meant livestream. Now I must apologize, I have confused you. The second license is if you livestream your service, that means, if you broadcast your service on the internet. Or if you record it and put the recording on a website. Youtube will challenge you if you try to put it there, but some churches put it on the church website, and do not realize that you must cut the music out of the saved video of your service, if you do not have the second CCLI license. That's why htere are so many sermons on youtube and so few complete services.

The rule is that anyone who writes a song owns it. If you want to record anyone's song, you have to at least file paperwork and pay money (that's not for church though, that's more for bands that make CD's), or (for a church this is better), you must get their permission.

Here's what you need to know: the rule is that you cannot copy and play a recorded video from anywhere (a CD, the internet, anywhere), because you are theoretically interfering with their right to sell the song they wrote, by selling other copies they did not make or let someone make. Everyone who puts a video on youtube signs off that youtube can play the video, but no one has sent you a letter that you can make a new video and play that one. So you can only play what is on youtube, you cannot make a "copy". This is weird, but you cannot even record the couple who plays your praise and worship and play those recordings when they are gone, because someone else wrote the song, and you have not paid for the right to do this. . No one will catch you, or take you to court, but if you wish to respect the law (as Christians should) that is the law.

What can you do? Lots of wonderful solutions. 1. Buy a CD, and play the CD over the sound system as you put the words on the screen (words paid for by your CCLI, song purchased). 2. Go to the composer's website, and buy the music for a few cents or a dollar per song. A few will even say you can have it for free, and then you are all set. These downloads are then legal. 3. Write your own music (my favorite). 4. Go to composers like me, who give the music away for free. (Seriously, my website is in my bio.) There are many of us, and many free worship song sharing websites. Of course, you can't play the radio's top forty, but that's why they're on the radio - they charge money, so they can advertise, so they will be big names, and then they can be on the radio.

 

[marco_polk]

If you want to get music free of piracy you can try those sites. Both of them shows Youtube Royalty free music content. I use them as well. Mp3Skull - Mp3 Download from YouTube Mp3Skulls.Tube and that one YouTube to Mp3 Mp4 Converter - Y2bee