Many churches want to harness their websites for convenience and cost savings to allow worship team members to download songsheets, charts, orchestrations and digital audio files for rehearsal purposes. It makes perfect sense, but is it legal? Short answer—not without prior permission from the copyright owner(s).

Christian music publishers and records labels are struggling to find a new model to lift them from the valley of digital download despair. The process of signing new songs and artists is not a cake walk nowadays, partly due to broader digital avenues for indies to promote and distribute their own works. Whether a church, ministry or small business, if you’re thinking of getting into the publishing and/or record business, carefully consider what you can offer a promising new songwriter or artist that will set you apart?

"Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" spans a remarkable bridge of 235 years, blending four centuries of worshipers--Chris Tomlin, Louie Giglio, Edwin Othello Excell, John Newton, and John P. Rees.

The adaptation of public domain works presents today's songwriters with an amazing gift and opportunity to retool ancient prose into relevant and revived songs for today's congregations. But who owns these adaptations, and how does the US Copyright office view these modified works?

Churches in the business of music? Hillsongs, Willow Creek Church, Saddleback Church and Gateway Church have all faced this question and embraced it with different perspectives and models.

I recently spent time consulting with a Florida church currently addressing that question and developing plans to launch a music publishing company and record label. I always look forward to interacting with church leaders in developing a solid foundation for building a music publishing business—one of the big challenges is helping churches understand that it IS in fact a business, and a very complex one at that.