Copyleft and Hymns

We hardly notice the print at the bottom of the pages of our songbooks, but at the bottom of most pages you will see a tiny blurb of legalese. This tiny copyright notice has great implications. By law, this copyright gives the author of the song the sole right to copy it, to create derivative works from it, and to distribute it by sale or license to the public.

To create those songbooks that we use each week, someone had to obtain licenses to legally copy those songs and sell the collection the public. You couldn't, for instance, legally photocopy those songs for use in your congregation without first obtaining a license, even if there was no monetary profit in it for you. You would have to contact the copyright holder to get permission for each and every song. What a chore!

As Christians, we must respect the law of the land, and I see several burdens copyright poses Christians in order to stay compliant:

• A financial burden to buy licensed copies. Of course, copyright holders may not charge for licenses, but the burden is still upon those who want to make the copy to obtain it.
  
• A burden of a stagnant repertoire of songs. You see the same ol' songbooks at congregations everywhere and creating supplemental songbooks means obtaining licenses.
  
• A burden on events like camps or lectureships. Who paid for those licenses? A congregation? The organizers? The attendees?

Recently, there has been great momentum behind the idea of the Creative Commons and their set of licenses to help facilitate free legal-sharing and copying of creative works like songs. Their licenses allow copyright holders to maintain their copyright while allowing certain uses of their work. Creators choose to allow free distribution of their works while maintaining any of the following:

• Attribution - You must be given credit for your work
  
• Share Alike - Derivative works must be given the same license as the original
  
• Noncommercial - Copies or derivative works must not be used for profit
  
• No derivative works - As it says, the original must remain intact without modification.

To me, the ideal license would be the "Attribution Share-Alike" or the "Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike". Authors can decide for themselves what combination of the above is best for them.

Think of the implications if all songs were licensed in such a way. Just imagine a congregation -- without the money to pay for the latest songbooks -- can now go to the web and download the songs that they think are appropriate and scriptural, and compile their own songbooks and supplements legally, for free! Furthermore, there's no more temptation to violate the law in order to praise God. What a blessing!

What do songwriters think about licensing their songs this way? Is there anything holding you back? I encourage you to consider it, comment below, and visit the Creative Commons website to learn more.