Take Me In - CC music

In the process of internet stalking a guy I was talking to the other day, I ran into this site - Creative Commons licensed Australian Christian music. And it's a good listen, too!

I love to see this kind of thing - Christians giving away things that bring glory to God.

I don't think we do our best work for the gospel by keeping resources - music, writing, whatever - only for those who can and will pay for them. God's word and his Spirit is freely given, why should the work we do that is inspired by his Spirit be limited in its distribution to only those who can afford it? I am convinced that the best we can do is to seek to share and give to one another those things that are Spirit inspired and bring glory to God.

The beauty of our present technological circumstance is that we can copy, share and duplicate to our heart's content at no cost. It costs nothing to make a copy of this music. It makes it easier to tell others and to give it away.

"At no cost?" I hear you exclaim - "Internet hosting isn't free!" Actually, it can be.

"But how will musicians/authors/creators be paid? We must recoup the investment," would be the next objection I would expect. If they need to be paid (which is quite reasonable - a worker is worth his wage) they should paid up front - a worker is worth his wage.

Most churches have a model for paid ministry, preaching and teaching where pastors/presbyters are paid to do work for the kingdom, not after they have produced a measurable/popular result. To be honest, many churches are even willing to blissfully willing to pay a "minister" who is doing more harm than good. Generally, we do not actively seek to measure the profitability of paying a regular stipend. We don't ask for a profit or even a return on investment (cynical observations about the relationship between Sunday services and motivation to 'tithe' notwithstanding).

Why should we insist that musicians make a product for a profit? I wouldn't be surprised if paying a stipend to musicians and other writers - and freely giving away what they create - would more effectively grow God's kingdom than the current widespread model does.

The other thing I love about this release is the license - CC Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike - you are free to copy it, share it and reuse it so long as the artist gets attribution and that whatever you do with it is released under the same license. This is something I want to talk about more some other time, but it rocks.

My ranting aside, grab the album - listen to it, share it, use it - it's good music.