Even Churches in the Philippines Speak of Music Copyright

Praise Music Publishing calls on Christian Churches to pay music royalties too. Praise describes itself in its website as follows (emphases mine):

Praise Music Publishing and CopyCare Philippines are Divisions of Praise Incorporated set up in 1996 to begin the groundwork for Music Publishing and Licensing in the Philippine territory. Our administered catalogues include among others “God Is Good”, “There Is None Like You”, “I Will Be Here”, “Shout To The Lord”, “The Warrior Is A Child”, and many thousands more. These copyrights are regularly sung in worship services and other church-related events.

Those songs are indeed popular songs. And churches should pay royalties?

I know you cannot believe it.

But it's true!

Look at this banner right below the website header of Praise Music...

The site even has a "Frequently Asked Questions" page, which contain very relevant information about music copyright.  These questions are applicable to all songs, whether religious or otherwise.

Reading that page is highly recommended.

Isn't it a slap when Christians sing the songs created by people without paying these people their respective royalties? If such things happen in Churches, how much more in the general public?

If a song is not classified under "Public Domain" then that song is someone's property, and therefore must be respected.

A friend of mine complained, "How can this be? Everybody sings that song! How can someone charge us money for that song?"

You may feel that too, and that's natural. That also is an indication that the concept of "intellectual property" has not yet fully sunk into our general consciousness.

This blog is an attempt to disseminate information about "intellectual property" in the hope of one day seeing a society that sees and respects rules pertaining to musical creations.