I couldn’t go anywhere on The World Wide Interweb last week without hearing about Third Day.  Could you?  On my Twitter, I was getting updates about shows, every blog I clicked on was promoting the new record, and even my Google Reader was filled with new posts.  Even the efforts of  heavy hitters like Carlos and BooMama were summoned.  You want to know why?  Because my friend,  Dr. Mark Lee freaking gets it.  

I am whole-heartedly convinced that Mark is the mastermind behind spearheading Third Day’s career and taking it to a new level.  Sure they have new management.  Sure they have a new record.  But Mark has taken active steps to better his career on a completely grass roots level. And for that I applaud him. 

Here’s the thing.  Would I love to work with Mark and collaborate on some blogging/marketing ideas?  Absolutely.  But honestly, from what I can tell there is very little that I could recommend to Mark that he isn’t already doing flawlessly.  It’s bands like this and hopefully bands that I have the privilege of working with that will shape the future of this industry.

I miss seeing these guys more and I wish we could hang out, but  I’m glad they are doing so well.  It’s awesome to see friends that have taken control over something and are really running with it.  And if you haven’t check out Third Day’s blog.  At the very least go tell Mark, “Hello” for me and give him an Interweb pat on the back.  Seriously.  Go Now.  Say Hi for me.

Read Part One
Read Part Two
Read Part Three 

The Christian Music Industry is a small part of the larger music industry, that focuses on traditional Gospel music, Southern Gospel music, and Contemporary Christian music. The majority of artists working and performing within the Christian music industry are isolated from the mainstream public, to Christian radio, magazines and record stores.

Guess how I know that.  I know that because earlier today I Googled “Christian Music Industry” and Wikipedia was the first thing to come up.  I clicked on the first link as most do and learned what you are reading above.  You know what else I noticed when I Googled “Christian Music Industry“?  I noticed that my blog, and the post showing a video of Bill Marriott, CEO of Marriott Hotels blogging, was fourth down from the top.  I thought that was interesting.

According (again) to Wikipedia The Christian Music Industry’s roots are found in the late 1960s and early 1970s Jesus Movement and its Jesus Music artists.  That’s a long time for the Christian Music Industry to be around.  Also this fun thing we call The Internet has been around for quite some time, and I think you two have worked together nicely since their beginnings.  Wouldn’t you say?   

This here simple blog of mine started almost two years ago now on August 30th, 2006 with a post about me pretending to forget things.  Sure, I’ve blogged about a bunch of different things.  I’ve talked about my kids, my wife, even mainstream music.  For anyone that has hung out here much or knows me personally knows that this thing is as random as my brain is.  There has never been any strict focus to specifically write about you, the Christian Music Industry, yet for some magical reason my blog has still managed to end up on the first page of Google.  Isn’t that weird?  What a random coincidence!

Here’s the thing “Christian Music Industry”, you’ve been around for a while.  There are plenty of people talking about you online and otherwise.  Lots of people saying nice things, and lots of people saying not so nice things.  It’s a good thing you have someone on your team at the top of Google, don’t you think?

Are you ready to talk yet?

Read Part One
Read Part Two

So here’s the deal.  Allow me to do a little explaining.  Twice now I have asked on this blog which Christian musicians you, blog readers, would want to see blogging.  I have taken the list and figured out who the top nineteen artists are.  Originally there were twenty, but I was completely unable to find any information on the twentieth artist online, which only goes to show how bad they need to be blogging.  Now I am going to ask you to help me out.  

Here’s the part that might make people start to hate me, but it also may just work.  SkörInc has launched a new, very basic, website with a very brief explanation of what it is we do.  Along with a new site, I have compiled the list of artists along with the general contact info for that artists management and record label.  This actually might get me kicked out of Nashville, but below is a list of the top nineteen artists you requested along with their management company’s email address and their record labels email address.  Obviously I am not going to give out non-public information so all of these email addresses were found somewhere on the Internet and very public.  I have just put them all in one place.  

Here’s what I am asking you to do.  I know it will take some time today, but I’m asking you that if you requested any of those artists that you kindly and respectfully send them an email requesting that their artists start blogging with SkörInc.  Tell them your experience with blogging.  Tell them why you want them to blog.  You can even tell them I sent you.  Most of the “industry” doesn’t know about blogging because they haven’t heard about it.  Now is our chance to tell them.  Because blogging is such a “grassroots” movement, there is no reason that this community here can’t make a loud noise in the industry.  So here it is.  Please consider taking the time to do this.  And if in a week or so I am moving to Canada you’ll know why.

Jon Foreman
Red Light Management - info@redlightmanagement.com
Credential Recording - info@credentialrecordings.com

David Crowder
SixSteps Records - info@sixstepsrecords.com
268Generation - info@268generation.com

Derek Webb
Dryve Management - dmccollum@dryve.us
INO Records - info@inorecords.com

Evan Wickham
EvanWickham@CalvaryChapel.com

Shawn McDonald
Dryve Management - dmccollum@dryve.us
Sparrow Records - mick@mail.sparrowrecords.com

Sara Groves
INO Records - info@inorecords.com

Leeland
Proper Management – info@propermgmt.com
Provident Label Group - info@providentlabelgroup.com

The Afters
Overflow Inc - http://www.overflowinc.com/
INO Records - info@inorecords.com

TobyMac
True Artist Management - info@trueartist.org
Forefront Records – info@forefrontrecords.com

Dave Barnes
Dryve Management - cdetray@dryve.us
Razor & Tie Publicity - kbrusca@razorandtie.com

Martin Smith - Delirious
Furious Records - info@furiousrecords.co.uk

Brooke Fraser
CRS Management - info@crsmanagement.co.nz

Tenth Avenue North
Reunion Records - info@reunionrecords.com
Showdown Management - info@showdownmgmt.com

Shane & Shane
InPop Records - http://inpop.com/contact.html
Website – barnard@shaneandshane.com or everett@shaneandshane.com

Sanctus Real
Sanctus Manager - sanctusmanager@mac.com
Sparrow Records - mick@mail.sparrowrecords.com

Chris Tomlin
SixSteps Records - info@sixstepsrecords.com
268Generation - info@268generation.com

Casting Crowns
Proper Management – info@propermgmt.com
Provident Label Group - info@providentlabelgroup.com

Todd Agnew
Celerity Entertainment - 
hello@celerityent.com
Ardent Records - info@ardentrecords.com
INO Records - info@inorecords.com

Joy Whitlock
Celerity Entertainment - 
hello@celerityent.com
Ardent Records - info@ardentrecords.com
INO Records - info@inorecords.com

So there it is.  Make sure to be nice and make sure to tell them why you want their artists to blog.  Also remember to send them to SkörInc.com to get started.  Obviously a lot of these emails are “info@” something, but I promise you if they get enough emails at that address someone will read them.  Let’s make some noise today.  Ready?  Go.

Well, I’ve asked before and I am still working on getting a solid list down, but I need to ask again.  This here is a pretty solid community of bloggers and I need to know who you want to see blogging.  What artists, Christian or otherwise, do you want to see blogging?  I have some ideas of how to make this community a pretty powerful voice in the music industry, but I need to make sure I have all of your opinions.

Last time we did this there were some great answers and I think Derek Webb, Crowder and Jon Foreman were at the top of the list.  Did that change?  Let’s hear it.

I’m not entirely sure how I came across this blog and I literally know nothing about these people except that they are “twenty somethings with a baby”, but that’s because they told the world that.  They aren’t even paying me unbelievable amounts of money to say this, but The Avila Family Blog is easily one of my favorite blogs to read.  There are tons of blogs that I subscribe to and check regularly, but this one is one where I am excited when it pops up in the reader because there is something new, and it’s not because they are clearly better dressers than I am.

Seriously, check out The Avila Family Blog and say hi.  Here’s a quick excerpt from the most recent post, that will make absolutely no sense unless you read the whole thing but I think it’s funny.

The Paso Robles Mid State Fair is kind of like a bad dream, because everyone looks like a Carnie, not just the people working the booths. Gotta love Paso. (Disclaimer: If I offended you with that last statement, I apologize….unless you have small hands and smell like cabbage).

So there it is.  Go now and subscribe to their blog.  And if you tell them that I sent you maybe they will give you something awesome.  Or maybe they won’t, who knows.

What’s your favorite blog right now?

Well, if for whatever reason, you feel like hearing me talk today at 2:00 PM EASTERN TIME, you can. The interview I did with Charley at CrossDriven Radio is airing today. I told Charley I would try to get more people to listen than my mom, so now you all can’t say you didn’t hear about it. Hopefully I didn’t say anything stupid, or if I did he edited it to make me sound super smart.

Seriously though, Charley was a cool guy to talk to and has already talked to several other really amazing people. Today along with talking to me Charley is talking to Amy, from “My Friend Amy”. The show will also be broken up into two podcasts that can be listened to here. So anyway, if you have some time today around 2:00 Eastern Time, go to WEBR and click the Listen Now button. Then come back here and let me know what you thought.

Are you ready to talk yet? Or should we wait to see if it’s worth it?

Read Part One

(This post has been added to WCW and Creative Chaos)

Ever get that feeling?  The one where one day you are knocked back a few steps and then the next day you feel like you are making up ground, but realize you still have a long way to go just to get where you were?  Today was nothing like that.

Today Randy and I had a meeting with a really smart guy.  A guy that has been in marketing for over twelve years and really “gets” what we are doing.  It was refreshing to talk to someone and hear the words, “You don’t need to sell me on the idea.  It’s brilliant”.  I needed something like that today.  After the week I have had it was cool to hear a seasoned veteran tell us that we were on the right track.  

I’m still trying to figure out if today’s meeting was a step forward or not, but it feels like it might have been.  At the very least I don’t feel like I am on a different planet for having some of the ideas that I have.  And after the week that I have had, I will take it as a win.  I will take it as, someone else has validated what I am doing and doesn’t write it off as “just blogging”.  Someone who has dominated the industry working with some of the heaviest hitters, and looking me in the eye and saying “you’re on the right track, just keep going”.

It’s the beginning of the month and that means that it’s time again for “Link Loved”.  The time where were celebrate those that are sending the most people to our blogs.  Now for all of you people out there that will inevitably say, “to me it’s not about traffic and I think this is a lame thing”, I say…. neat.  Then don’t play.  I think it’s cool to focus on something other than ourselves a few times a month and this is one of them.  So for those of you that know how, figure out who your top five referring blogs are, that is the five blogs that sent you the most traffic this month and write a post explaining their blog to people and sending people their way.  Make sense?  We’ve done this once before and it seemed to work well, so here goes.

1:  ThisIsKristin:  I think Kristin’s blog will always be somewhere on my list but I think it’s cool that she is number one this month.  We were just talking yesterday about how cool it is that blogging has become something else that we do “together”.  By that I mean, here in this world it is simply an extension of who we already are.  People know that we go together and it’s neat to be able to talk about geek stuff with my wife and have a fun connection that way.  I’m sure most of you have already, but if not, make sure to go to Kristin’s blog.  She’s always got something cool to say.

2:  The Bloggess:  This lady is funny.  Ever since Kristin showed me this blog a few months back, I have followed it.  It’s become something that we talk about probably more than any other blog in our real life.  Not to mention I am very aware of my sentence spacing now.  I think it’s funny that her blog keeps showing up in Christian circles and I’m sure deep down she really likes her new audience.  Okay maybe she doesn’t but I think it’s fun to pretend she does. If you haven’t go there and laugh at things you never thought you would.

3:  Visual Coma:  Randy just moved out there two weeks ago and hasn’t stopped working on different things since he’s been here.  Quite literally everything that I am able to do online is because of something Randy has figured out how to do.  It’s been really cool working with him more and hopefully later this month we will be able to focus on some things even more.  Randy’s blog is one of the most entertaining things I have seen if not for the spelling alone.  We have been friends since we were in second grade and very little has changed since then.  Check out Randy’s blog and hop in on some of the conversation there.  It’s a pretty cool place.

4:  Ragamuffin Soul:  Carlos was number one last month, but hasn’t talked about me at all this month so he’s slipped to number four.  See, that’s what you get Carlos.  Ragamuffin Soul is one of those blogs that leaves me scratching my head thinking, “how does he have time to do all of that?”.  Carlos has done some really cool things recently using time lapse video stuff, which I tried and screwed up and just got annoyed.  There’s always something new and cool on his blog and even if it’s something that you have seen before the seven hundred comments that he gets makes it worth reading through.  One of these days we’ll get Carlos to participate in some of the things going on here like Positive Post Tuesday or even Link Loved.  And one of these days he will realize that I specifically call him out on purpose.

5:  A Simple Journey:  I haven’t seen Brian for a while because it seems like he has been out of the country more than he has been home for the past year.  Brian is my next door neighbor and works for Compassion International helping artists communicate the mission behind Compassion to their audience.  Because Brian travels so much his blog is always full of cool photos, travel stories and hotel tips.  Brian and his wife are also in the process of adopting from Ethiopia, so it’s cool to watch that process unfold through his writing.  I don’t know if I have ever met someone so dedicated to their job as Brian is and it’s awesome to read about everything that he is passionate about.  Check out Brian’s blog and say hey.

So, that’ it.  These are the five blogs that have sent me the most traffic this month.  I think it’s amazing to see such a diverse group of people here in this community and I hope that you all go check their blogs out and get involved there.  Now it’s your turn.  What five blogs are creating your community?  

Ready?  Go.

So some of you may have noticed my little bunny that has popped up here and there.  Well today since I have nothing really to blog about and it’s a weekend anyway, I wanted to point out that now up in my address bar I have my little bunny sitting up there too.  Randy figured it out and made it work.  

We are currently hanging out at a very loud, busy cafe’ trying to get some work done and I think my brain is being over stimulated.  It was quiet here when we got here but the lunch rush has shown up and it’s kind of freaking me out. 

In other news, check out Mr. Wickham and his two posts in one day.  He has said, with his own mouth, “it’s time to step it up with the blogging”, so expect some more awesomeness from him.  Not to mention a pretty rad announcement on Monday.

You will also note that below this post is another button directing you all to today’s 40 Day Fast post.  Make sure you take the time to click that and check out the two posts today.  I love how two very different parts of the world are represented today, Paris and India.  It really shows the point of this whole thing and how far it can reach.  

Have a great Saturday.