|
"If I could rhyme
times twice /
you still won’t have heard
one-third
of the words /
that would serve / to describe
Christ!"
—The Phanatik
| |
|
 |
1.—Is
downloading music from the Internet legal or illegal? |
| Let
me start off by pointing out there are many legal websites
where you can download music and even have permission from
artists to download their music. Some examples are: mp3.com (http://www.mp3.com),
sphereofhiphop.com (http://www.sphereofhiphop.com),
launch.com (http://www.launch.com),
and many others that do allow this legal act of downloading
music.
Now, for the most part
when you find music online through file sharing programs like
Kazaa and Limewire, the music that is provided is illegal and
an act of stealing. For example, say you use one of these
programs and happen to type in "Kirk Franklin" and see that
there are many Kirk Franklin songs available to be downloaded.
These are illegal copies and, by law, downloading them is an
act of stealing. This infringes upon an artist’s copyrights.
A copyright is the
protection of the original expression of an idea, whether it
is expressed in the form of music, a painting, or written
material.
A copyright is infringed
upon when a song is made available to the public by uploading
it to an Internet site for other people to download, sending
it through an e-mail or chat service, or otherwise reproducing
or distributing copies without authorization from the
copyright owner. |
2.—What
if I don’t have money to buy these CDs? Is it alright to download these songs from the Internet?
|
| The
answer to this question is still no. That would be like going
to a music store and not having money to buy a CD, so instead
you pull out a device and transfer the content of the CD you
want onto you personal device. That is illegal and an act of
stealing. The Bible
says in Exodus 20:15, “You shall not steal.” |
3.—Is
burning CDs and making copies legal?
|
| Sometimes.
The same rules that apply to downloading music from the
Internet also apply to burning CDs. You are allowed to burn music with artist
permission and you are also allowed to make copies of your own
material. However, burning copies without artist permission is an
infringement on an artist’s copyright and illegal by law.
It is okay to make
mix-CDs of music you have purchased, where you put various
songs altogether
on one CD for your own enjoyment, but not to be sold, as the
same rules apply in artist copyrights.
|
4.—What
if I’m using these CDs that I burn to give out to
non-believers?
|
| First,
let us say that we understand the desire to use these CDs to
spread the Gospel to non-believers and to use the CDs for
evangelistic purposes. We wish that we could give a free CD to
all those who are affected by Hip-hop Culture. But we also
understand that just because the CD may come free to the
person we give it to, that does not mean that there is no
cost for the CD.
When you burn copies of the music, you short
circuit the system that is set up to help us cover the cost of
making the music in the first place. While you are helping
those in need, you are hurting the artists and companies that
spent time and money to put these projects out, and
hurting their ability to continue providing these resources.
It'd be the same as someone stealing money from your bank
account to buy Bibles for someone.
If there is someone you’d like to bless with a copy of our
music, may we suggest that you purchase it for them? This way,
you’re not helping the one while hurting the other. If you
are trying to hook up a number of people with the music and
the price is too much for you to cover, we suggest that you
link up with local churches or your home church, and ask them to make a
donation/investment into the lives of others by helping you to
buy CDs in bulk.
|
5.—Does
Cross Movement have any future plans to accommodate the
interest and desire of believers to use CM music
as evangelistic tracts?
|
 Yes!
A "give-away CD" (a.k.a., "evangelistic CD")is in the
works! Cross
Movement, along with various other Christian rap
artists has begun a partnership with the American Bible
Society called, "Elementz of Life™."
This special project will result in the production of Hip-Hop
oriented evangelistic & discipleship materials, including
an evangelistic CD. The urban
evangelistic CDs are being specifically produced for the purpose of
evangelism. These more affordable and easily distributed
evangelistic CDs will be available early 2003! We hope that the
evangelistic CD will help to meet the need of having an effective
witnessing tool to leave with people in evangelistic
situations. So if all else fails, you may just want wait for this CD to be
made available to begin using this in your evangelism.
Look for details in 2003 on how to get a hold of these
evangelistic CDs.
For more information concerning CM's partnership with the
American Bible Society to produce evangelistic &
discipleship materials, click the "Elementz
of Life™" logo above, or please
click here. |
This FAQ was designed to help you better understand the
"ins and outs" of downloading music and burning CDs.
Many times people just don’t understand what they’re doing
when they do these acts and, for that matter, don’t know
that at times you can be doing something illegal. This is not
to condemn anyone or point fingers, but rather to let the body
of Christ know what’s going on. Many times we see others
doing things and end up doing the same thing not knowing that
it may be wrong. Many ministries and record labels are hurting
due to this new technology of burning CDs/downloading music
over the Internet. By making the public aware, we hope that
people will start supporting these ministries and artists by
purchasing these CDs and not coping them.
The
End
You
can write to the author of this article by writing to official@crossmovement.org
Related
Article: ABS
and CM Partner to Produce an Evangelistic CD.
|
|
|
|
