Nearly every religious service uses music, lyrics, or readings the congregation didn’t write. Copyright laws apply to churches the same way they apply to any other organization — nonprofit status doesn’t create a general exemption. There is a real, specific exemption for religious services, but it covers far less than most churches assume, and the gap between what people think is covered and what actually is covered is exactly where infringement happens.
Copyright Laws and Why Churches Aren’t Exempt
A copyright protects an “original work of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression” — music, lyrics, sheet music arrangements, and printed readings all qualify the moment they’re written down or recorded. Copyright laws apply to nonprofit and religious organizations exactly as they apply to everyone else. Using someone else’s copyrighted material without permission or an applicable exemption is infringement, regardless of the purpose it’s used for.
The Religious Service Exemption: What It Actually Covers
Copyright laws do carve out one specific exemption for churches: 17 U.S.C. § 110(3), the religious service exemption. It permits the performance of a nondramatic literary or musical work, performance of a dramatico-musical work of a religious nature, or display of a work, “in the course of services at a place of worship or other religious assembly.” In practice, this means a congregation can sing a copyrighted hymn or display its lyrics on a screen during an actual worship service without needing permission from the copyright holder.
The exemption is narrow on its own terms. It only applies “in the course of services” at “a place of worship” — a concert, a fundraiser, a social event, or a rehearsal held at the church doesn’t qualify, even if the material is religious in nature. And copyright covers six distinct exclusive rights; this exemption only reaches two of them, performance and display.
What the Exemption Does Not Cover
Because the religious service exemption only covers performance and display, it does not cover reproduction. Photocopying sheet music, printing song lyrics in a bulletin, or saving a copy of lyrics to a computer to build projection slides are all acts of reproduction — a separate exclusive right the exemption doesn’t touch. Copyright laws treat reproduction and public performance as distinct rights, so being exempt on one doesn’t mean a church is exempt on the other.
A church can display purchased or properly licensed lyrics on a screen during service under the exemption, but typing those same lyrics into a slide deck and keeping the file for reuse next week is reproducing the work, which needs separate permission. The exemption also doesn’t cover distributing copies, creating derivative arrangements, or performing a digital sound recording.
Livestreaming Changes the Analysis
The religious service exemption applies to performances and displays happening “at a place of worship.” A livestream or broadcast of that same service, going out to people who aren’t physically present, generally falls outside the exemption — it’s a transmission, not a performance confined to the place of worship itself. Churches that livestream or record services for later viewing are relying on separate licensing for the music used in that broadcast, not on the religious service exemption, even though the exemption fully covers the identical music performed live in the room.
The Practical Fix: Blanket Licensing
Because the statutory exemption leaves real gaps — printed lyrics, projection slides built from copied text, livestreams, recordings — most churches close them with a blanket license from an organization like CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing International), which covers reproduction and streaming rights across a large catalog of worship music for an annual fee. A license like this doesn’t replace the statutory exemption; it covers the specific uses copyright laws don’t otherwise excuse. When in doubt about whether a specific use is covered by the exemption, by a license already in place, or by neither, that’s worth confirming before the use happens, not after.
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Disclaimer: Every situation is different and particular facts may vary thereby changing or altering a possible course of action or conclusion. The information contained herein is intended to be general in nature as laws vary between federal, state, counties, and municipalities and therefore may not apply to any given matter. This information is not intended to be legal advice or relied upon as a legal opinion, course of action, accounting, tax or other professional service. You should consult the proper legal or professional advisor knowledgeable in the area that pertains to your particular situation.
