What is The Religious Services Exemption?

Among the six exclusive rights of a songwriter, the Religious Services Exemption that’s written into the U.S. Copyright Law provides an exception for two of those rights: performance and display.

The U.S. Copyright Law, Section 110, Item 3 – Limitations on exclusive rights: Exemption of certain PERFORMANCES and DISPLAYS, declares the following is NOT a violation of Copyright Law:
“PERFORMANCE of a nondramatic literary or musical work or 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”

The DISPLAY aspect sets up an interesting dichotomy for worship leaders. Apparently the law allows you to DISPLAY lyrics for copyright songs without permission, but it doesn’t allow you to REPRODUCE song lyrics, or store them in a computer for the purpose of projection. You still need permission for that.

Remember, the Religious Services Exemption only covers two of the six exclusive rights. Not all of them.

If you're not sure whether your church is correctly licensed, CCLI is here to help.