PERFORMmusic

There is a religious service exemption in U.S. copyright law that allows churches to perform copyrighted music during religious services without paying royalties. The exemption does not cover any music played or performed outside of worship services. If your church is playing or performing copyrighted music outside of your religious services, you need a church performance license.

The PERFORMmusic License is available for churches to play and perform music onsite in their facilities and satellite campuses.  Churches and most (501c3) non-profit religious organizations located in the U.S. or its territories are eligible for this license.  Colleges and universities do not qualify. Churches outside the U.S. or its territories are not eligible for the PERFORMmusic License.

The PERFORMmusic License covers a wide range of performances of live and pre-recorded music outside of religious services including:

The PERFORMmusic License fee is tiered by average weekly attendance across all of your church’s services.

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The PERFORMmusic church performance license allows you to play or perform over 25 million Christian and secular songs from the combined catalogs of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. All genres are covered, from Contemporary Christian and Gospel to Rock, Country, Holiday, Patriotic, Pop, Children’s music and much more. To view the songs covered, simply visit each Performance Rights Organization’s Repertory page (links above) and search their catalogs.

CCS partners with performance rights organizations in the US–ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. The PROs authorize CCS to license churches and ministries for the rights to perform and play the songs in their respective catalogs – more than 25 million songs, which allows CCS to provide a one-stop license for all three PRO catalogs of songs. Only churches and religious organizations with a 501c3 tax status qualify for CCS performance licenses. Each of the PROs reserve the right to determine whether or not an organization or entity qualifies for CCS’s licenses.

The PERFORMmusic church performance license covers all facilities on your primary and satellite campuses. PERFORMmusic even travels with you to other venues. The PERFORMmusic License is not available to Colleges, Universities and Seminaries.

The PERFORMmusic License requires no reporting.

Once you have the PERFORMmusic License, it’s simple to add-on & report ticketed (or admission fee required) concerts & events.

There are numerous variables in the agreements and royalty fees of all three Performance Rights Organizations (ASCAP, BMI and SESAC), which make it difficult to tell you precise fees for your events in advance. However, we do want to give you a maximum billing estimate so that you will be able to budget for your events. Fees for the quarters you submit ticketed event activity will have a minimum $90.50, or an average of approximately 10% of gross ticket revenue.

Great art does not happen accidentally. When music and the arts flourish, there is a cultural economic terrain in which songwriters and artists thrive. The next time you buy a church music license, like CCS’s PERFORMmusic License or WORSHIPcast License, or pay an invoice for music rights, take another look at the transaction you’re making. It’s a tremendous opportunity to support songwriters, who in turn will bless your church with new worship songs that proclaim the Gospel, touching and transforming hearts. We pay fees directly to ASCAP, BMI and SESAC, and they then pay their affiliated writers and publishers. The Church plays a vital role in GIVING MUSIC LIFE.