Friday, June 8, 2012

Spirited & Singing is on Facebook - Join the Conversation

'Spirited and Singing' now has a dedicated Facebook page. Yeah!


By 'liking' it you will be able to regularly hear what others are exploring musically for worship from week to week. It's global nature will be a major strength.


My hope is that Spirited and Singing's FB friends will share their ideas. This may simply mean a song suggestion for the current week or liturgical season, a resource, link, question, or personal reflection.


I will also be linking blogposts from Facebook to make it easy to keep up with what has been posted.


You'll notice there are currently no images on the FB page. You're invited to send photos of your faith community 'doing' music to add the the page. Clearly it's expected that you will have sought the permission of those in the image before doing so.


Please share widely and invite others along - the more the merrier!
Visit Spirited and Singing's Facebook Page

Monday, June 4, 2012

Songs That Unite: New Opportunity for Songwriters

The Uniting Church's National Assembly (Australia) this year launched a new songwriting initiative called Songs That Unite. It's aims are twofold: to enable the widespread discovery original songs by local songwriters, and to offer platform for songwriters to offer their work for wider use. 

So far there are 13 songwriters registered on the site with 95 songs available for purchase.

Songs are reviewed by an assessment team before being offered in several forms which can be purchased separately, or as a pack for around A$5. Formats include a lyrics sheet, backing track and music score, and while some songs include a vocal recording to give an idea of how the song sounds, these are not available for sale. 

Songwriters receive royalties, and can register with a copyright agency. It is important to note that songwriters are linked to copyright organisations, so if you intend to use a song for worship, your faith community must hold the specific licence.

Don't sit on this news. If you know someone who has songs to offer, or indeed if you have songs of your own, consider this as a possible avenue for your work. As always, comments most welcome.  Read more here