Radiohead and Worship Music
I like Radiohead, and "Jigsaw Falling Into Pieces" is one of my favorite songs right now. But overall I don't know how I feel about In Rainbows as an album. Don't get me wrong; the music is amazing, but Radiohead first offered their most recent album on their website and let the consumer choose the price they would pay. I think it was the next logical step in the seismic shift that has happened in the music industry. For every song that is purchased, there are at least 4 copies of that song that have not been purchased.
Again, I don't know how I feel about that.
As a music publisher, there is a part of me that likes the fact that people like and are copying spiritandsong.com music. We want to provide songs for the Church that helps the Church bring expression to the human longing to worship the Lord. Knowing that people are copying songs from Matt, Sarah, Steve, Tom, Jesse, Josh, and other phenomenal composers means that Spirit & Song's printed resources will be popular as well. That's why we offer free listening to our music on our website. We want you to hear it and use it in church, on your retreats, in your prayer services, in your room, or in your assemblies.
The other part of me thinks about the producers who stay up all night trying to get the mixes right, obsessing over the tones of the guitar, laboring over the string arrangements, or painstakingly going over the various vocal tracks trying to find the one with the right emotion and pitch. Those sounds don't just happen. They are intentional. These producers often work as a labor of love. The get paid a relatively small fee and their larger pay is tied to the sales of the CDs.
Artists have other avenues that support their ministry, royalties from publishing, live events, other merchandise sales. This isn't case with producers who are in fact artists in their own right. Whether its spiritandsong.com music or Fall Out Boy or Carrie Underwood, buy the CD or download the music. Buying the music will ensure that the quality you enjoy will continue. How would Jesus download?