non-profit CD legality questions
  • Music_Miss
    Posts: 16
    My parish is trying to raise money to complete a building project that has been underway for a few years now. Since a few parishioners have asked me whether I have any CDs out, it occurred to me that one way to boost the donations for our construction project might be to offer a CD to the parish and donate all proceeds to our building fund. I am unsure how to proceed with the legalities of this issue, however. Basically, I'm wondering:

    If I'm not recording for profit (because we will simply suggest a donation for the CDs), is it legal for me to record covers of other artist's songs? Do I need written permission? I am thinking specifically of music by Audrey Assad and Matt Redman but might potentially include others like the spiritual Down to the River to Pray, the Star-Spangled Banner, Schubert's Ave Maria, etc.

    Please let me know if you know anything! Also, does anyone have any idea of how much it might cost to record such a thing? I know recording studios themselves can be expensive but that there is other do-it-yourself recording equipment out there. My phone actually makes decent audio recordings and I have made them before (to teach parts to my choir or psalms to my cantors) and burned them to CDs before. My main concern is really the legal side of recording other artists' songs and using them to raise funds for our building project.

    Your thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,093
    You need a license to record and redistribute copyrighted work - regardless of whether you charge for the CDs that you distribute - it's not fair use. If you don't want to deal with licenses, you need to stick to works in the public domain.

    (Also, if you are engaging musicians for an orchestra, there may be rights issues involving recording and distributing their work.)
    Thanked by 2Music_Miss PaxMelodious
  • Music_Miss
    Posts: 16
    @Liam: Thanks!
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,086
    Compulsory mechanical licensing for such projects is handled through the Harry Fox Agency. I had to deal with them half a lifetime ago for a collegiate recording, and I don't know what they're like now, but even at the time, I thought the fees were reasonable.
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