I’ve heard of the Amazon mp3 store, a lot. In the news, blogs, DRM-free weirdos, writing in the sky, etc. I just never used it. Last night, there was an awful lot of twittering going on about Amazon vs. iTunes. In particular, Amazon offered Coldplay’s new EP for $5 cheaper than what I paid on iTunes. Crazy talk, I know. Someone asked me why I still used iTunes when I could get DRM-free, higher quality music for much less. I never really thought about it so I’m checking out Amazon. I have an iPod, iPhone and iMac so iTunes does make sense for me. The buying experience is definitely easier and more enjoyable but if I can get the same music for less, then I’m all for it. For example, I just saved $6 on The Killers new album on Amazon (I’m beginning to sound like a Geico commercial). Hooray for cheap music!

Now is when you chime in. How do you buy your music?

Stephen

It’s Sunday morning and my alarm begins to pump music into my room from the local Christian radio station. I come out of my sleep just in time to hear the DJ announce that the next song was from one of his favorite artists, Phil Wickham. The song was True Love.

Rewind to September 2007. Phil’s new album, “Cannons,” was about to release and he was coming to our worship conference. I was busy planning and promoting the conference and called our Christian radio station to set up an interview with Phil. I sent several emails and made a couple of calls. I finally received a call back from the station telling me that they weren’t really interested. The reason? Phil wasn’t on their current lineup of songs. Apparently, he wasn’t as cool as Petra or Avalon (sarcasm).

I talked with Phil about this, telling him of my frustration with Christian radio in general and how the songs they play are so old and the new one’s aren’t really the best. I even talked to one of the DJ’s at the radio station who confirmed that their target audience is “30-something” soccer moms (because they give the money). Brody has posted several posts about his frustration with the Christian Music Industry and I join him with this post. It’s way past time to step up to a level of excellence.

So, Listener Supported Radio Station, I would like to say, “I told you so.” While I’m extremely happy that you are playing Phil’s songs and proclaiming him as your favorite artist, I’m also extremely frustrated that you passed up an opportunity to interview one of the best in the business because you weren’t familiar with him yet.

All of this didn’t change the fact that it was one of the most awesome times of worship I’ve been apart of and it was just one guy and his guitar. If you haven’t downloaded Phil Wickham’s free album, go here and do it now. You’ll be glad you did.

Stephen