use of secular beats and hook lines in gospel music,Harmful or not

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Permalink Reply by bet nich on April 28, 2010 at 3:49pm

I would say he's copying, but maybe if there's enough originality in the song it could be reworked.

Beats are not copyrighted, but Hook lines (melody) and the choreography of the dance moves is....

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Tuel on April 28, 2010 at 5:48pm

Right. Beats aren't secular or sacred. The content of the lyrics is what determines that.

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Permalink Reply by Cory Zipperle on April 29, 2010 at 8:36am

Music is not inherently evil or good. It is how we use it that makes it this way. I have no issue with taking rhythms or even melodies from popular secular songs and using them in our worship offering to God.

Now, I realize that many people will tout copyright law here, but you can't have copyright discussion like this without talking about the Fair Use of the Copyright code.

For example, at one church we played "All Because of Jesus" by Fee with "Pinball Wizard" rhythm and bump. Anybody familiar with The Who knew that we were doing this because it was very clearly based off of their work. This was not illegal because of fair use.

As for dance moves, the publications can be copyrighted, and some artists have tired to sue for people stealing their moves, but I haven't seen a case yet where the plaintiff won.

As for actual use practices: if it works and can glorify God. USE IT! Especially if it helps to excite the congregation. Early hymn writers did this, we can to!

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Permalink Reply by Verah Vashti Okeyo on April 29, 2010 at 9:40am

I was just wondering what is going to happen to the believer who got born again yesterday from a life of secular music and all that comes with it...the language, the bahaviour because we all know every music has a spirit behind it.Don't you think Cory that he is going to be flashbacking and the memory recall to all the music is being drawn from?

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Permalink Reply by Cory Zipperle on April 29, 2010 at 9:47am

People worry about this, and I have even heard a couple of people talk about how they hate rock music in Church because it takes them back to a time to when they were "sinners". Of course, they still are sinners.... ha!

When it comes to our worship offering to God, we need to give back to God what he gives to us (this is all that we can do). If God gives us a few secular beats, then this is what we need to give back to God.

When it comes to the issue of sanctification and remembering your past, I don't see anything in Holy Scripture that suggest that we are supposed to forget our past. Rather, I see that it is important to remember the things that we have done. So that we can compare ourselves without Christ to whom we are with Christ and then use that difference to TESTIFY!

You have the additional issue that the one who is "born again yesterday" isn't really going to be able to completely separate themselves from the media elements of a life once lived. They can do some, but the second they step out of their rubber room, they will be inundated with the media of yesterday. In my opinion, part of learning to be like Christ means learning to not fall into temptation and regressing back into old ways. Avoidance has its place, for a while, but so does confronting your temptations with Christ and saying "I'm not like that anymore because of Jesus!"

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