What is the difference between CCLI and CVLI?

CCLI licenses cover worship song lyrics and music — displaying, printing, recording and streaming songs. CVLI, the Church Video Licensing arrangement, covers publicly showing movie and film clips during services and events. They are separate licenses for different types of content.

Church copyright & streaming licenses explained

Legal · essentials · updated July 2026

Copyright is the part of church media most teams quietly worry they're getting wrong. The good news is that it's more understandable than it looks once you separate the pieces — one license for lyrics in the room, another for streaming online, a different one for movie clips, and separate rules again for Bible text. This guide walks through each in plain English so you can work out what your church actually needs.

Important: This is general educational information, not legal advice, and licensing terms change. Always confirm the current details for your country and situation directly with the licensing body (CCLI, CVLI, or the Bible publisher) before relying on them.

Why copyright applies to worship at all

When a songwriter creates a worship song, they own the copyright to those words and music. Copyright law gives the owner control over how their work is copied, displayed, performed publicly, recorded and transmitted. A church service does several of those things at once — it displays lyrics on a screen, performs the song publicly, and (if you stream) transmits it online. Each of those uses technically needs permission.

Rather than every church chasing permission from thousands of individual songwriters, blanket licenses exist. You pay one organisation an annual fee, and in return you're covered to use a huge catalogue of songs in defined ways. That's what CCLI and CVLI provide.

The CCLI Church Copyright License — lyrics in your building

CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing International) is the most widely used. Its core product, the Church Copyright License, covers what you do with worship song lyrics inside your church. With it, for songs in the CCLI catalogue, a church can typically:

Display song lyrics on screens and projectors during services.
Print lyrics in bulletins, songsheets and orders of service.
Create custom arrangements and translate songs where permitted.
Record services for members and produce audio for the congregation, within the license terms.

What it generally does not cover on its own is streaming or webcasting your worship to the public online. That's a separate permission — which is where the next license comes in.

The CCLI Church Streaming License — worship online

Once you put worship music on YouTube, Facebook or your website, you are transmitting those songs to the public, which the in-building copyright license doesn't stretch to cover. CCLI's Church Streaming License is designed for exactly this: it lets you stream and post recordings of your services that contain worship songs from the catalogue.

A common and expensive misunderstanding: having the Copyright License does not automatically mean you can stream. Many churches need both — the Copyright License for what happens in the room, and the Streaming License for putting it online.

Two things the streaming license typically does not cover:

Playing original recorded music — e.g. streaming a Spotify track or a famous artist's recording as background. That's a different kind of right (the sound recording), usually not included.
Songs outside the catalogue — the license covers a very large but not infinite list. Check that the specific songs you use are covered.

How license fees are usually structured

Rather than a flat price, church licenses are normally priced in bands based on your average attendance — a small church pays less than a large one. Fees are billed annually. Because the exact bands and prices change over time and by country, we deliberately don't quote figures here — get the current numbers straight from the provider for your congregation size.

CVLI — showing movie and video clips

Planning to show a two-minute film clip to illustrate a sermon, or run a movie night? Displaying commercial films publicly is a separate right again, covered by CVLI (Christian Video Licensing International) through its Church Video License. It grants permission to show clips and films from participating studios during church activities. Note the usual limits: it's for in-person church use and generally does not permit streaming those clips online or charging admission.

Bible verses on screen — a different rulebook

Here's the one that surprises people: your song license does nothing for Scripture. Displaying Bible text is governed by the copyright of the specific translation you use.

Public-domain translations — the King James Version (KJV) and the World English Bible (WEB) are free to display, print and stream without permission.
Modern copyrighted translations — NIV, ESV, NLT, CSB and others allow a limited number of verses to be quoted or displayed under their permission guidelines, usually requiring a copyright notice and with limits on how much of a book you use. Extensive use, or use in products you sell, needs direct permission from the publisher.

For a fuller breakdown of which translations are easiest to display and stream, see our guide to the best Bible translations to display on screen. If you display or stream Scripture, showing the translation abbreviation on screen (e.g. "John 3:16 — NIV") is good practice and often required.

A simple way to work out what you need

Do you display or print worship lyrics in the building? → You likely need a Church Copyright License.
Do you stream or post services containing worship songs online? → Add a Church Streaming License.
Do you show movie or film clips? → Look at CVLI's Church Video License.
Do you display Bible verses? → Use a public-domain translation freely, or follow your chosen translation's permission terms and show the copyright notice.
Do you play original recorded tracks? → Check separately; blanket church licenses usually don't cover sound recordings.

Practical habits that keep you compliant

Report your song usage. CCLI asks churches to log which songs they use so royalties reach the writers — this is part of the deal, not optional admin.
Show copyright notices on lyric slides (song title, writers, CCLI number) and on Scripture slides (translation).
Keep licenses current and note renewal dates so you're never streaming uncovered.
When in doubt, ask the source. CCLI, CVLI and Bible publishers all publish current terms and will answer questions.

Where TajiCast fits

TajiCast displays Bible verses, so it sits under translation copyright, not song licensing. It ships with translations you can display freely and helps you show the reference and translation cleanly on screen — which is exactly the good-practice habit above. It doesn't stream music or show video clips, so it has no bearing on your CCLI or CVLI needs; those remain about your worship songs and any film content.

Frequently asked questions

Do churches need a license to stream worship music online?

In most cases yes. A standard church copyright license lets you display and reproduce song lyrics in your building, but streaming that worship online to the public generally requires a separate streaming license. CCLI's Church Streaming License is the common way churches cover this for songs in its catalogue.

Does a church copyright license let me display Bible verses on screen?

No. Song licenses like CCLI cover worship song lyrics, not Scripture. Displaying Bible text is governed by the copyright of that specific translation. Most modern translations allow a limited number of verses to be displayed with a copyright notice, while public-domain translations such as the KJV and WEB can be displayed freely.

What's the difference between CCLI and CVLI?

CCLI covers worship song lyrics and music — displaying, printing, recording and streaming songs. CVLI covers publicly showing movie and film clips during services and events. They're separate licenses for different types of content.

Display Scripture cleanly and automatically — free.

Download TajiCast — free