AltarPage

Do churches need a licence to stream music?

Answer · Updated

Usually, yes, for recorded songs. Playing a recording in a live stream is a public broadcast of the song and of the recording, and buying it or having it on Spotify doesn't give you that right. Your own choir singing, songs you wrote, and public-domain hymns sung by your team are generally fine.

What's usually fine

  • Your own choir or worship team, and songs you wrote.
  • Old hymns in the public domain, sung by your own team. A modern recording of an old hymn is usually still protected.
  • Recordings you own, or have written permission to broadcast.

Where licences come from

Most countries license broadcasts through collecting societies: COSON in Nigeria, GHAMRO in Ghana, MCSK in Kenya, SAMRO in South Africa, PRS for Music and PPL in the UK, SOCAN in Canada, and ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and SoundExchange in the US. A church streaming licence (such as CCLI's) covers your team singing listed songs live; it doesn't cover playing the artists' own recordings.

Music in AltarPage Broadcast

The studio can play songs into your broadcast like a radio desk (Voice, Talk over or Song). Before you add songs, it asks you to confirm you have the right to broadcast them. Songs are in the replay and on your station too, so the same rules apply there.