All the songs intended for gathered worship on this site are licensed via CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing International). This organisation collects license fees from churches and other institutions around the world. These license fees are used to pay royalties to songwriters, like myself and Matt Redman.
But, and here’s the rub, if no one reports that they are using my songs to CCLI, then Matt Redman gets the cash instead. Yup, true story.
Here’s the reason why.
Every geographical area (e.g. North America, Australia, etc.) has a royalties pot. 100% of this is shared out between all the artists whose work is reported. If you use my song but don’t report it, not only do I get nothing, but Matt gets my share. Why? Because his work is guaranteed to be reported by someone somewhere on the face of the earth.
Basically, it’s like someone offering ten parents a free ten-slice pizza for their toddlers and saying, “It’s all got to go. Whose toddler wants some?” If five parents ask for some their kids get two slices each. The other five kids get nothing even if they’re hungry because their parents didn’t say anything.
Don’t. Be. That. Parent.