# Reported Usage Not Attendance Sets a Songwriter's CCLI Payout ## Claim In a CCLI-licensed congregation what determines a songwriter's payout is which songs get reported as used and how often, weighted by the reporting church's size — not attendance, not effort, and not theological quality. <!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ --> ## Scope & conditions - The payout follows an administrative act (reporting) rather than the underlying event (singing), so under-reporting by small churches is invisible to the system. - Creates a concentration effect: large reporting churches move the distribution more than their attendance share alone would. - Checkable against CCLI's published reporting methodology rather than requiring insider testimony. - Same shape as any royalty system keyed to a self-reported log. ## Evidence From the Jonathan Allen Wright CCM-industry series episode on worship music economics: the CCLI reporting mechanism is traced from congregation to payout. ## Links - [[Worship Song Popularity Can Measure Ownership Rather Than Reception]] — why a reported count is worth pre-loading once payout depends on it - [[A Licensing Permission and a Platform's Enforcement Are Separate Systems]] — the other place CCLI's coverage is narrower than it is assumed to be - [[3. Resources/MOCs/Christian Music Industry Economics MOC]] — the industry thread this claim sits in.