Buckle up, this one is a doozy.

Let me preface this post by stating my purpose: I would appreciate the wisdom this group can offer on the following situation, and would also appreciate hearing from anyone else who may have encountered or navigated anything similar. This post is not meant to be a rant session. Regardless, I suspect there will be strong responses.
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I had a friend of the forum call me this evening after a run-in with a parish administrator. (I have his permission to post about this; we both believe that people will benefit from the discussion, if only to prevent themselves ending up in a similar situation.)

The short of it is: this administrator is pointedly adamant that the parish owns the copyright / intellectual property of anything that he has composed or arranged while on the job. This is a real whopper of a claim, as far as I’m concerned. This friend of ours naturally bristled and attempted to correct her, however she was so bold as to even say that he’d just as well get a lawyer, if that’s how he felt, because as far as she was concerned, his work belongs to the parish so deal with it. If he wasn’t down to play ball, then perhaps he should be transitioned from being a salaried position to being payed as a “private contractor”. As far as I can tell from a distance, it sure seems like we are dealing with a napoleonic complex, at least in this individual case.

Leaving aside the very odious dynamic this administrator is trying to push on our fellow musician—the church really knows how to treat her own… (he has also admitted to his own shortcomings in handling this admittedly stressful parlay) this is honestly the first time I’ve ever heard of such a thing in the realm of ecclesiastical music. Mind you, he is not composing with the intention of publishing a special collection in the name of his parish. He’s just writing gebrauchtsmusik necessary for a normal MD job, and putting his own compositional flair into it.

It should be said that copyright belongs to the creator by default, and even without formal registration. This is inherent to copyright law, at least in the US. But it must also be acknowledged that intellectual property can indeed belong to an employer —at least under certain situations. An engineer working at a firm, for instance, or a researcher at a university, to name but two examples. All well and good… but music typically falls into a different category, and has its own rather Byzantine set of rules and case law dating back decades. Cursory searches on a few government websites didn’t provide any clarity in this particular instance, as many examples referenced don’t pertain to music, but the more stereotypical examples mentioned above.

It is my understanding that he ultimately has nothing to fear in this regard, and that the church couldn’t actually lay claim to his intellectual property unless those conditions were explicitly set forth in the terms of employment. This is partly what I would like the hive mind to comment on. I have counseled him to go straight to the pastor, ask him to draft a form that explicitly states that he retains his copyrights, and to then approach the administrator once he already has the form in hand. (I personally would not settle for a verbal agreement and a promise that it will all be sorted out by the pastor.)

I confess, a chill ran down my spine contemplating the possibility that this woman could be correct in her assessment (heartless though it may be), as I have composed hundreds of things at my current post in the last 5 years. This got me to thinking that, irrespective of what may be tacitly understood to be the norm, it may very well be wise to work explicit intellectual property clauses into any future employment agreements (can’t hurt). So: has anyone here every worked such a clause into their own terms of employment?

What are some appropriate arguments to make in favor of the copyright remaining with this individual rather than the church? The discussions for our colleague are no-where near finished. God forbid: legal counsel could even become involved if the worst-case scenario is to play out. (I will also add the note that comments such as “time to walk away!” will not be constructive; he is happy at this post, and is relatively new to the position and not of the mind to move. Things have been very good up until this incident.)

A few comments that were offered to me by an esteemed & seasoned collegiate pedagogue:

1.) Even in the case of commissions, typically the composer retains copyright, or at least the terms of shared copyright are negotiated, but never forfeited unless this is an explicit term of the commission to which the composer has agreed. (*cough*USCCBhymncompetiton*cough)
2.) What if the individual has already published works with big houses? Would the church hilariously try and revoke any rights they think they have? (Stated alternatively: it is very common for actively ministering musicians to have their works published, and their parishes have no say or recourse in this matter.)
3.) Does this administrator also lay claim to the contents of the pastor’s prepared sermons? He is, after all, preparing those texts on the clock, as it were.

Now, your turn.
Pax,
James