Comments about ‘New Harmony: What religion needs is more catchy tunes’

Popular music is copyrighted. You can't take it and change the words without legal compensation. This is the problem with a lot of music today. In fact, LDS do attempt to modify songs and movies quite regularly--eliminating the objectionable parts, for example, only to find that the original artists are offended by it.

Still, I completely agree, there's nothing like singing a gospel message to the tune of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance.

If you just take the song, change the words, and sing it in church, but you don't record it, are there any copyright issues with that? In other words, if you just do what they used to do according to this article?

To Western Rover: "If you just take the song, change the words, and sing it in church, but you don't record it, are there any copyright issues with that?"

Yes, most of the time. Years ago at the summer Workshops on Church Music held at BYU, we were told that the Church was being sued several times each year for similar problems as this because Church musicians thought they could get away with whatever seemed reasonable to them. That's why the Brethren kept telling us not to steal other people's work--such as their music. Not recording a piece has very little to do with applicable copyright laws. Changing lyrics in tunes is to be done with permission. As a Church and community musician who had concert seasons, I learned the value of being straight with not only copyright laws but also with the agencies that protect a composer's rights to be gainfully employed by our using their works in concert settings. There are exceptions given for parody, also for liturgical use of music in a church service as long as the music is PURCHASED--not photocopied by the choir director.

Thanks for the info, Gracie, that was very enlightening. It sounds like there is still copying involved in that situation, namely the sheet music.

What if only the words (of the changed version) were distributed to the congregation, not the music, like some of the hymnals in the early days of the church, or the Christmas compilations that are occasionally distributed at ward parties today? And if the pianist or organist performed the music from a songbook purchased at retail (the original version, of course)?

Would there be any copyright issues then?

RE: What religion needs is more catchy tunes’ True,but not The Christian faith which has Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me....I once was lost but now am found, Was blind, but now, I see. T'was Grace that taught...my heart to fear. And Grace, my fears relieved. How precious did that Grace appear

To Western Rover: "What if only the words (of the changed version) were distributed to the congregation, not the music, like some of the hymnals in the early days of the church, or the Christmas compilations that are occasionally distributed at ward parties today? And if the pianist or organist performed the music from a songbook purchased at retail (the original version, of course)?"

It's been awhile so I'm not up to date on all the particulars, some of which might have changed over time. But typically, if a publishing house and/or independent composer wanted his/her text copied in the way you suggest, there is a clause somewhere on the music that says so. I've done that. One of the things I remember hearing from several composers such as Laurence Lyon and others (at those BYU conferences) is that you can get into a whole lot more trouble copying WORDS than music. Authors have much more protection, outside of performance rights agencies for the composers. Besides, texts are often written by someone entirely different from the composer. His/her permission--or the text copyright owner's--must be obtained.

The 1985 LDS hymn book lists Walter G. Tyler as the composer; however lds.org lists Adam Geibel as the composer. That was confusing until I found a note at the Internet Archive indicating that Walter G. Tyler is a pseudonym for Adam Geibel. After learning a little more about him at Hymn Time I am not sure that it is a military march. He was a composer and publisher of hymns, including the hymn Mormons know as "Behold a Royal Army", he called it "The Joyful Song". Of the 28 hymns listed on this page with links to a page where the music is played, none of them match the music to "Called to Serve". Perhaps because it was published under the pseudonym Tyler, the site has not attributed it to him.
Interestingly the author of the "Called to Serve" text according to the hymnal is not LDS either.

Sorry, Gracie, I wasn't clear about my scenario. I don't mean the case where the congregation sings both the words and music of a popular song, but where the congregation sings entirely new words to the music of a popular song, similar to the cited example of "Praise to the Man" and "Scotland the Brave", but with a modern song.

So there wouldn't be a copyright issue with the words, because the words of the popular song wouldn't be used at all, and the person who wrote the new words would in my scenario grant permission for their distribution. The question remains, would there be any copyright issue with the music, if nobody is copying the sheet music or making a recording?

Back to Western Rover: Oh! Yeah, that should be fine. You have to get your bishop's permission, of course, just as for any "special music" that's done in sacrament meeting. But there aren't the same problems regarding using the music in that situation. Performance rights agencies (like ASCAP or BMI), which are entirely separate from copyright concerns, aren't involved when it's set in a liturgical context (a bona fide church service). If, however, you use the music--with or without your new words--for a church dinner, party or some other occasion, you need to pay the appropriate performance rights agency for the use of that piece even with your different words. It's a cheap fee but you have to get the license and pay the fee.

A few years ago I purchased a multi-CD collection of classical music. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I recognized quite a bit of the music ... but only because I had first heard the music in Bugs Bunny cartoons.