Our story begins in 1984 when a Portland, Oregon pastor first learned of a pending $3.1 million copyright lawsuit against the Archdiocese in Chicago. The pastor asked his music minister, Howard Rachinski, to ensure that his own church was covered.
In January 1985, Howard began to develop a “permission of use” concept, whereby churches could obtain blanket permission for specific “non-commercial” copying activities. He called it Starpraise Ministries, which became CCLI’s predecessor.
It became abundantly clear that copyright licensing for a church and the songwriters and publishers creating music was an issue that needed to be addressed. The market agreed and by the end of the second year, 1,150 churches signed on with Starpraise.
Working in the music industry isn’t for the faint of heart, but it’s the only place I’ve ever wanted to be. I started out playing drums in a ska band, and over time I changed my focus to helping artists and songwriters get paid fairly for their music and work. After eighteen years at HFA including more than six years at the helm, I love solving problems that result in creators and their partners getting paid through new and exciting music distribution models.
Managing the growth of data and services required to help our publishers, artists, and songwriters get paid accurately, efficiently and completely has been an exciting challenge for me and my team. The velocity of industry change coupled with ever-increasing volumes of new music flourishing in the market has made for a time of exponential growth at HFA.
With the MMA licensing evolution in the forefront, it’s clearer than ever where we stand and what we believe are the touchstones at HFA as we all transition to the next stage of mechanical rights management.
How was “Be Alive” created?
Dixson: Be Alive was created with about 80% live instrumentation and 20% electronic drum programming. I took it as far as I could get it and then I sent the demo to Beyonce’s team. They came back with her incredible vocals and it changed my entire approach. She is such an amazing lyricist, vocalist and producer that I had to go in and do some re‐production after hearing the energy her vocals brought to the record.
What did you learn the most from working with Beyoncé on “Be Alive”?
Dixson: I really learned to let the collaborative process be the guiding force for creativity. Because I wasn’t always able to work in the same room with her, I had to make some educated guesses about what she might like and it sharpened my ear as a producer and as a songwriter.
