Welcome to St. James Music Press
A new way to think about church anthems
Since 1992 St. James Music Press has been publishing some of the finest church anthems being written today. THE FINEST! And we're not just bragging. Anthems from SJMP have been heard on national broadcasts, performed at cathedrals and churches throughout the US and the UK, and premiered at major music conferences throughout the country. Our volumes do not contain praise-songs, choruses or renewal music. These are new traditional anthems and fresh arrangements of varying difficulty which have been tried and tested by many fine church choirs.
All our volumes include from 10 to 150 anthems. And guess what? We're also going to give you permission to photocopy as many copies as you want or need. Do you pay $35-45 for a preview packet from Concordia? GIA? Lorenz? Paraclete? Do you buy octavos for $2.45 per anthem? Do you get tired of reading through music without finding anything of substance that is usable by your music program?
We want you to photocopy our music!
Unlike many publishers, we are committed to each and every anthem that we publish. You won't like or use them all and that's fine. We all have different tastes. But the variety of the selections in our collections almost guarantees that you'll find something of use. Our volumes cost between $18 and $119 depending on the size. (Most of them are $55.) That's it! Nothing else to pay. Ever. And our volumes come with recordings of all the anthems. If you have an average sized choir and IF YOU USE JUST ONE OR TWO ANTHEMS, THE BOOK HAS PAID FOR ITSELF!
Frequently Asked Questions
OK, I'm intrigued. How does this work?
Let's say you buy Volume 12 of the Sewanee Composer's Project for $55.00. This cost covers the publication, and a one-time license agreement fee which allows you to photocopy any or all of the anthems and or texts contained in the book. As many as you need! The total cost to you is just $55.00! Just slightly more than most preview packets. Just think - if you only use two or three of the anthems, you're way ahead of the game.
It sounds complicated. Do I have to figure out charts and fill out forms every time I copy something?
Nope. Fifty-five bucks. One time. That's it! Amen.
What if I give the book to someone else to copy it for their own church?
We wish you wouldn't. We actually believe that most church musicians are honest, law abiding citizens. Of course, we can't stop you from copying it, but at this price, why not just tell them about it?
We're hosting the Diocesan Convention here next April and I need 400 copies of one of the anthems for the service. We also need to print the words in the bulletin and we'll be recording the service for those who can't be there. Oh, and there'll be a small string orchestra - say about 40 pieces. And we'll be televising the service nationally on the Religious Broadcasting Network (RBN) right after the Robert Tilton Show. Any problems with this?
Nope. Well ... maybe with Robert Tilton.
O.K. I understand all this, but when I was a small child, my mother used to take our family down to the post office and take our pictures by holding our faces on the Xerox machine and putting in quarters. Now I have a deathly fear of photocopying. What can I do?
We recommend therapy. But, one choir director we know simply takes the book down to his local Kinko's (a permission certificate is included in every book) and has them run the copies, fold and bind them, and all for about 50¢ per anthem. Your hands will never be soiled.
What happened to the other volumes? I'm looking for Volumes 1-5 of the Sewanee Composer's Project?
Our agreement with the composers is for 18 to 24 months. After that, the copyrights are returned to the composers. Fortunately, we have reissued most of these anthems on CD-ROM. (See St. James Music Press CD-ROM Project 1995-1999) The others are available from other publishers.
Does this mean I'm only allowed to copy these anthems for two years?
You may copy these anthems for as long as your church shall stand. In some cases - longer.
May I still feel guilty while I'm copying this music? It's one of my greatest pleasures.
Yes.
Isn't it illegal to photocopy music?
No. It is illegal to photocopy music that is under copyright without the copyright holder's permission. WE GIVE YOU THAT PERMISSION! Each book also contains a certificate of permission just in case you need to show it to the clerk at the copy store.
Our church has a CCLI license. And the youth group just bought a OneLicense.net license. We're allowed to copy all the music we want anyway.
Oops. Hope you don't get caught. CCLI Licenses - The Christian Copyright Licensing International agreement - provides permission to copy songs for congregational use. It enables you to make overhead transparencies, songsheets and songbooks, input lyrics on a computer, record worship services, and make arrangements of the music (where no published version exists).
A OneLicense.net license allows license holders to reprint the melody line and words for any title copyrighted by one of their Member Publishers except choral anthems, where only the words may be reproduced. Neither of these licenses conveys the right to photocopy octavos, cantatas, or instrumental arrangements. This permission can only be granted you by the publisher. We give you that permission!
To view our available volumes, click here to view our catalog.
