With the spread of iPods and MP3 players listening to audio is no longer restricted to a music collection. Sermons, speeches and books are actually becoming popular in audio format. Both the Democratic and Republican National Convention speeches are available for free on iTunes (George W. Bush, John Kerry and many more). Telltale Weekly offers free and dirt cheap audio downloads, including John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address for free and the Epistles of John from the Bible for 75 cents.
Churches can join the technological revolution by making sermons or other teachings available for download (not just streaming audio). It’s not only a ministry to members who can take those sermons beyond Sunday morning, but it’s an ad for your church. Many churches already do this and are a step ahead in the quest not to suck.
Anthony D. Coppedge
April 1, 2005
I interviewed Susan Fontaine-Godwin, a.k.a. “The Copyright Queen”, a while back and here’s an excerpt of what she had to say about streaming/archiving on the Internet:
I asked Susan what is the number one question she gets from churches. Her answer?
“The number one area of confusion has to do with the Internet: ‘What can you put on the Internet without first getting permission?’,” answered Susan.
She went on to elaborate, “The downloading of .mp3 files, playing of background music, images (copyrighted), video, etc. It’s so easy to use so many various copyrights on a website simultaneously, that many times people don’t think about getting permission before posting it to their church website. It’s also the biggest area where copyright owners are reticent to allow permission,” she continued “because of the question of protection and security. Once it’s on the web, it’s far too easy to transfer. Many publishers are concerned about it.”
“Other issues related to posting on the Internet include multiple types of copyright. Reproduction, distribution, sales and playback of content each require the user to get specific permissions,” said Godwin.
{end of quote}
A sermon can easily be streamed or archived on the web as long as it doesn’t include copyrighted audio, video or graphics. For the average church Pastor, their own material (sermon notes) are fine to post on their websites because they have intellectual property rights on their own stuff.
Where most churches miss the mark, and this is what Susan was referring to, was all of the other content that is sent (streaming) or archived on a website.
2 more cents on the pile,
Bryan
February 11, 2007
Just came across this and we’re seeing a big push for this at AltarCast. Churches are starting to understand that they’ve got to reach out to people online and it’s got to be quality material and easy to access.
One of the most interesting things is that people that would normally just hear the sermon on Sunday and forget it are listening to it again during the week because of that church’s podcast. They’d never ask for a CD or tape since they were there, but with the podcast they’re getting fed again.
Cool stuff.