The Worship Tax - How your church's worship profits secular investors via CCLI
The Christian music industry commercializes the worship of God. A copyright cartel maintains control of sacred songs and even sells them to secular investors. While churches have a legal exemption to perform copyrighted music during services, copying lyrics for digital presentations isn't covered. This legal gap has led to the rise of Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI), which charges churches annual fees for various permissions to use songs. This system financially burdens congregations and primarily benefits a select group of artists and organizations, some with questionable practices or theology. It also serves to make sincere worshipers in other countries into lawbreakers.
Read the unabridged version of this article with sources at https://sellingjesus.org/articles/worship-tax
Related video on the humorous side: https://youtu.be/Ib5nCKdU0Wg
Related profile essay: https://sellingjesus.org/learn/profiles#james-the-worship-composer
Bible passages mentioned:
Jesus' command to freely give: https://sellingjesus.org/articles/freely-give
Jesus cleansing temple: https://sellingjesus.org/articles/temple-cleansing
LEARN MORE
https://sellingjesus.org
https://thedoreanprinciple.org
https://copy.church
SECTIONS
0:00 Introduction
1:37 The Worship Music Industry
4:03 The Business Facilitator - CCLI
7:53 Secular Investors
10:28 The Sanctity of Worship
12:04 An Outdated Exemption
13:14 Exploiting the Legal Gap
14:58 Reform
See any ads? YouTube imposes them, not us. This channel is not monetized and never will be. See https://lets.church/channel/sellingjesus for an ad-free alternative.
CREDITS
Boyce Worship Collective: https://youtu.be/3-Tp8HPutZM , https://youtu.be/5wvTKCuqpQU
Chris Tomlin: https://youtu.be/KKo3T0j9qqo
Kari Jobe: https://youtu.be/huFra1mnIVE
Elevation Worship: https://youtu.be/TE1Jke5KPtc
Ever Be: https://youtu.be/byEUIzfVLAs
Lion and the Lamb: https://youtu.be/SBrrWPw5bW4
Oceans: https://youtu.be/OP-00EwLdiU
First two piano parts: Jeremy Kirles
Ending piano: John Barnts https://youtu.be/18nyRz5r6gE
Read the unabridged version of this article with sources at https://sellingjesus.org/articles/worship-tax
Related video on the humorous side: https://youtu.be/Ib5nCKdU0Wg
Related profile essay: https://sellingjesus.org/learn/profiles#james-the-worship-composer
Bible passages mentioned:
Jesus' command to freely give: https://sellingjesus.org/articles/freely-give
Jesus cleansing temple: https://sellingjesus.org/articles/temple-cleansing
LEARN MORE
https://sellingjesus.org
https://thedoreanprinciple.org
https://copy.church
SECTIONS
0:00 Introduction
1:37 The Worship Music Industry
4:03 The Business Facilitator - CCLI
7:53 Secular Investors
10:28 The Sanctity of Worship
12:04 An Outdated Exemption
13:14 Exploiting the Legal Gap
14:58 Reform
See any ads? YouTube imposes them, not us. This channel is not monetized and never will be. See https://lets.church/channel/sellingjesus for an ad-free alternative.
CREDITS
Boyce Worship Collective: https://youtu.be/3-Tp8HPutZM , https://youtu.be/5wvTKCuqpQU
Chris Tomlin: https://youtu.be/KKo3T0j9qqo
Kari Jobe: https://youtu.be/huFra1mnIVE
Elevation Worship: https://youtu.be/TE1Jke5KPtc
Ever Be: https://youtu.be/byEUIzfVLAs
Lion and the Lamb: https://youtu.be/SBrrWPw5bW4
Oceans: https://youtu.be/OP-00EwLdiU
First two piano parts: Jeremy Kirles
Ending piano: John Barnts https://youtu.be/18nyRz5r6gE