Yes,  we at One21music.com will cover American Idol’s Season 8.  However, we will take a little different slant.  We will identify and focus on American Idol contestants of faith.  While American Idol’s Hollywood theater of torture airs next week, we will research the candidates to find those who profess their faith in Christ and then we will follow their progress throughout Season 8.

The Season 8 audtition shows ended last night and they were the usual cornucopia of train wrecks and tear-jerkers, spiced with some talent and humor.  American Idol is a decidely secular endeavor.  It feels that the judges punish contestants who choose to demonstrate their faith through their song selections.  On the surface, Idol  stifles creativity and undervalues sensitivity, two qualities of the great music we try to promote at One21music.

So why would One21music jump into covering the plastic, secular process we will see in American Idol’s Season 8?  Is there anything less underground, less Post Modern, less organically Christian than American Idol?  There are really three reasons Idol matters to us at One21music and why maybe you should give it a chance:

• American Idol is a fascinating view into the process of developing music stars.
• American Idol is television the entire family can enjoy together.
• There have been a number of Idol contestants who are Christian music artists.

We live in Austin, Texas; a city teeming with talented musicians.  Many of these music artists appear to be much more talented than most pop music faves such as Britney Spears,  J-Lo or Kenny Chesney.  If superior talent is not enough, then what does it take for America to embrace your music?  I think American Idol offers some insight into that process.  In Idol’s Season 7 we saw interesting talents like Brooke White and Jason Castro wither under the pressure of unrelenting, high stakes performing.  We saw Syesha Mercado’s unwavering will and self confidence enable her to survive other, more heralded talents.  We saw the mature musical diversity of David Cook prevail over the powerful singing talent that was David Archuleta.  American Idol is not about who gets to sing that horrible song to close the season.  Idol is about watching these talented musicians endure, mature and grow through the Idol’s condensed process for grooming a music pop star.  Okay, dog?

I was a late comer to American Idol.  Quite frankly, I was a music snob who looked down my nose at the show until I saw Jennifer Hudson’s crushing performance in Dreamgirls.  Knowing that her talent did not win motivated me to investigate this curious show.  Before then, I joked that all of my friends who encouraged me to watch Idol were the parents of pre-teen girls.  In the middle of Idol’s Season Six a friend, whose music tastes I highly respect, and father of four said to me, “American Idol is one of the only television shows my 3 year-old,12 year old and I can enjoy together as a family.  You know how families used to sit together and watch television as a family?”  It is true.  American Idol is understandable and entertaining to very young kids and interesting and enjoyable to adults.

Over the last two years, we have seen the Top 12 Finalists include no less than seven music artists who openly profess their faith.  Phill Stacey, Lakisha Jones and Chris Sligh have all  recorded Christian/Gospel music.  Melinda Doolittle and Jordin Sparks openly express their faith.  We are waiting to hear from Jason Castro and Chikezie from Season 7 .

Which brings us to American Idol Season 8 and One21music.  We intend to highlight the Christian music artists competing and we need your help.  Fox and 19 TV do not provide much information about the contestants going to Hollywood and we expect their biographical data for the 36 finalists to be sketchy regarding their faith.

Through researching a number of blogs I have identified some of the contestants we should consider favorites:

• Adam Lambert
• Alexander Wagner-Trugman
• Alexis Grace
• Allison Iraheta
• Ann Marie Boskovich
• Anoop Desai
• Arianna Ayesha Afsar
• Brent Keith
• Casey Carlson
• Danny Gokey
• Jackie Tohn
• Jasmine Murray
• Jeanine Vailes
• Jessica Langseth
• Joanna Pacitti
• Jorge Nunez
• Junot Joyner
• Kai Kalama
• Kendall Beard
• Kristen McNamara
• Kris Allen
• Lil Rounds
• Matt Breitzke
• Matt Giraud
• Megan Corkrey
• Mishavonna Henson

Here is how you can help.   If you know any of these Idol contestants to be professing believers, please send me a comment to let me know.  Whatever you can tell me about them will be greatly appreciated.  Hopefuly ths list will contain a fair number of the contestants moving to the audience voting rounds.  Once we know the true list we will adjust and research the others.

Join me when the program goes live on February 17th and we will cheer on these Christian music artists together.

There was a lot happening in the Christian music scene this week!  This update is a little longer than usual, but be sure to search through and read about artists you know, and also discover some new ones.  Let us know if there are any stories we missed from this week.  In addition, at the bottom of the post I will be listing all the CDs from Christian musicians that will be released the following Tuesday.

A whole bunch of hard work being done over here, this next week we will be putting up our list of Christian artists and record labels! This is the next step for our company, so I hope you will enjoy what we put up!

Here are your links for the week:

Strike First Record’s Hope For The Dying announced their upcoming with tour with War Of Ages, Destroy The Runner, Inhale/Exhale, and Hands. Hope For The Dying announce tour.

Indie rockers Revive were in Billboard Magazine this week. Read about Revive in Billboard Magazine.

Pop rock band Bread Of Stone made a video of them recording their latest album. Watch Bread Of Stone in the studio.

Our Hearts Hero posted a video announced their upcoming tour, The Adapt and ReacTour. Watch Ours Hearts Hero for their new tour.

Metal band Theocracy announced their new guitarist, Van Alan Wood. Read Theocracy’s announcement.

Ska band Make Up Your Mind recently saw the departure of their long time bassist this week. Read Jan’s goodbye letter to the fans.

Classic metal band Bride posted a rant of sorts outlining the band’s belief system. Read Bride’s purpose.

Everyday Sunday put a live video feed of the band in the recording studio this week. Watch Everyday Sunday’s live video feed.

Sara Groves posted a video explaining her latest single, “Love Is A Worthy Cause”. Watch Sara Groves.

Country artist Brent Hill posted a number of funny things his kids have said over the last few years. It will make your day. Read Brent Hill’s funny memories.

Mellow singer/songwriter Laura Landon posted an update including the announcement of new songs, along with an explanation and some lyrics for those songs. Read update from Laura Landon.

Rapper Bobby Bishop posted the second episode of his ongoing “Everyday Man” video series this week. Watch Bobby Bishop.

Gospel Music Channel has a free mp3 download for alt-rockers Cleveland. Download Cleveland mp3.

Modern pop artist Molly Jenson‘s upcoming album, Maybe Tomorrow, was reviewed by two different online ezines this weeks. Read Molly Jenson review at Skope. Read Molly Jenson review at Stereosubversion.

Jeff Capps is releasing a few of his new songs for free on Noisetrade. Read about free music from Jeff Capps.

Post-hardcore band Flee The Scene announced that they were disbanding this week. Read about Flee The Scene’s break-up.

Art-rock band Belle Epoque was interviewed by SomethingPunk.com this week. Read Belle Epoque interview.

You can now stream The Fray‘s entire upcoming self-titled album on VH1′s The Leak. Listen to The Fray on VH1.

August Burns Red‘s version of Britney Spear’s “Hit Me Baby One More Time” made its way online this week. Listen to August Burns Red play “Hit Me Baby One More Time”.

Jason Grey gave an update from the road. Read Jason Grey update.

Believer released the album artwork and track listing for their upcoming CD, Gabriel. View updates for Believer.

Hardcore mega-group xDeathstarx defended their controversial “Stop Religion” t-shirts. Read xDeathstarx defense.

KJ-52 posted a behind the scenes making of the “Stuck In The 80s” video on his myspace. Watch KJ-52 behind the scenes.

The Colour Academy latest CD, Through Telescopes EP, was reviewed by TheDailyChorus.com. Read The Colour Academy review.

Singer/songwriter Backseat Goodbye wants you to pick what he plays on his next tour. Tell Backseat Goodby what you want to hear.

Jaymes Reunion posted a video of a recent rooftop performance of their song “Fine”.  Watch Jaymes Reunion.

Vicky Beeching posted a video of recent Canadian TV appearance she did. Watch Vicky Beeching.

Grits have premiered their new video for the song “Beautiful Morning”. Watch Grits video for “Beautiful Morning”.

Bombworks Records announced the signing of Dark Lay Still, and Fearscape.

Read Dark Lay Still announcement.

Read Fearscape annoucement.

The Showdown posted a video for their track “Achilles”. Watch The Showdown “Achilles” video.

Manic Drive also posted a new music video for their track “Blue”. The song features Kevin Max of the DC Talk fame. Watch “Blue” by Manic Drive.

FM Static have posted the album artwork and track listing for their upcoming CD, Dear Diary. Read FM Static updates.

Since I cant seem to format a new realese post to my liking, here are the new albums hitting shelves this coming Tuesday:

2/3/09

Various Artists- Hip Hope 2009

The Fray-The Fray

Travis Taylor-You Have Loved

Melinda Doolittle- Coming Back To You

Robert Pierre- Identity

Donald Lawrence- The Law Of Confession

Hey there, remember a few weeks ago when we posted our favorite Christian hip-hop video for 2008? Remember it was this guy on Syntax Records named Kaboose? Remember how you liked it , right? Well then you are going to love us, because we have his brand new mixtape, Bits & Pieces, here for your listening pleasure. Oh, yea, and it’s free. Are you starting to notice a pattern here? We suggest an album, put a big picture up in the post, and magically it’s free…

We love new music, and when it’s free, that’s a better deal, don’t you think? Click on the link below, download the ZIP file, then extract the files, and the mixtape is now yours. Tell us what you think.

Download Kaboose: Bits & Pieces Mixtape

The Ambassador
Genre: Hip-Hop
Sub-genres: Gospel, East Coast
Location: Philadelphia, PENN
Label: Cross Movement Records
Website: http://www.theambassadoronline.com/
Christian Label: Yes
Category: The Spiritual whats this?

In 1997, a group of friends with a passion for hip-hop and sharing the gospel released an album called Heaven’s Mentality. It combined the hard-hitting sound of East-Coast style hip-hop with grounded theology.  The songs were in your face, passionate, walked the hard line of true hip-hop and true evangelism. The group was called The Cross Movement, and the CD was the beginning of a career that has seen the release of seven albums for the group, and over twenty from the individual members.  They have expanded to creating a label under the same name, and Cross Movement Ministries was founded shortly after that.  At the center of this group is a talented and dedicated emcee calling himself The Ambassador.  Armed with style that could rival the word smith prowess of the likes of Eminem, The Ambassador brings a talent and creditability to the Christ-centered hip-hop scene that just hasn’t been seen before.

On his own, he has released three albums, along with the seven or so with The Cross Movement. His songs deal with modern society’s relationship to Christ, how to be relevant in a irrelevant world, and lays out the salvation story like no other through his lyrics.  He is one of those guys that when he pops up as a guest on a song, you know it within the first second he begins to lay his verse out, because know one can quite match him.  His lyrics are dense, and full intense imagery and metaphor. His style tip-tows on the sound of mainstream hip-hop, but yet still is able to not just haplessly fall into musical trend after musical trend.  He is not only a great emcee, but also a true artist, and a  man seeking God’s heart.  One minute of listening to songs like “It Was Love”, “Gimme Dat”, or “A Girl Named World”, and these atributes are very eveidant.

A few weeks ago we posted The Ambassador‘s latest video for his song called “Gimme Dat!”. Here he is preforming the same track in LA. Sorry about the quality, these guys stay pretty low budget..

Here is also an interview with the man himself, talking about some of the struggles he has gone through and how he got to this point in his life.

I have the utmost respect for this guy. He is the first Christian hip-hop I ever saw live, and I have been a bit spoiled on it ever since.  Lyrically, I just dont know many people that can stand up to him, and centainly not many guys in the game have his track record.  He has done so much with his passion it is just great to see him contnue, year after year, to produce great things in this industry.  Lately, his focus has been on his Theological degree, but he has found time to mentor up and coming Christian hip-hop superstars, such as one of ur new favorites, Lecrae. We all hope he is around for a very long time.

You can find all of The Ambassador’s incredible music digitally on

You can also get his CDs on Amazon: Christology In Laymen’s Terms(2000), The Thesis(2005), The Chop Chop: From Milk to Meat(2008)

Also check out The Cross Movement’s stuff on

You can also get their CDs on Amazon: House Of Representatives(1999),Human Emergency(2000), Holy Culture(2003), Higher Definition(2004), Chronicles: Greatest Hits, Vol. 1(2006), History: Our Place in His Story(2007)

The end of another week has seen some really good things happen here at The One21. We took on new employee, expanded our artist database extensively, and made some big decisions for the company. Good things are coming in the next few months, so hang with us. The next big thing you should see is that we will have an Artists tab at the top of the page containing what we believe to be the whole scope of the Christian music scene. Im hoping to have that up within the next week.

Until then, we have our weekly news update for you guys, a bunch of links taking you to all that is going on the Christian music scene this week.  Click through and let us know if we missed anything. Have a great weekend guys.

Facedown Records latest addition to their label, HANDS, have been keeping regular tour blogs during their latest trek across the country.  Read the latest tour blog from HANDS.

Metalcore band Never Back Down gave fans a large update on what is happening in the near future for the band. Read Never Back Down updates.

Pop singer Vanessa Rose is letting her fans choose the album artwork for her upcoming EP. The Girls Who Play The Boys. Vote for your favorite Vanessa Rose cover art.

Dream rockers Sleeping At Last gave fans a huge update concerning Podcasts, interviews, merch, and new photos. Read updates from Sleeping At Last.

Inhale/Exhale were featured in an interview for Indiestar.tv. Watch the Inhale/Exhale interview.

Above The Golden State posted a video of them performing “I’ll Love You So”. Watch Above The Golden State preform “I’ll Love You So”.

Underoath has posted another video blog from their ongoing series chronicling their time in South America. Watch Underoath’s South America video blog.

KJ-52 posted a video explaining his “Remix the Remix Contest”. Watch KJ-52 talk about the “Remix the Remix” Contest.

Pop artist Krystal Meyers posted the music video for her song “Shine”. Watch “Shine” from Krystal Meyers.

Indie singer/songwriter Brett Dennen sat down with Current TV for a brief interview. Watch Brett Dennen on Current TV.

A whole bunch of bands and artists announced tours this week. Check the tour dates on all these guys and go see them if they are in your area:

Barcelona tour Dates

The Fold tour dates -scroll down

Since October tour dates

Iris Dement
Genre: Country/Folk
Styles: Americana
Location: Arkansas to California to Kansas City
Label: Independent
Website: None
Myspace : None
Christian label: No
Category: The Light whats this?

The past twelve years have been tough on us Iris Dement fans.  A flurry of creativity from 1992 to 1996 rewarded us with three of the best country/folk albums in the history of the country music, and then she faded away.  With those three albums, Miss Dement beautifully articulated the honest struggles of believers in this world.  Iris Dement is as clear an example of the musical spirit we pursue at One21 as any artist I can name.

All three of her celebrated country/folk albums were released while she was in her 30′s.  The first, Infamous Angel caught the attention of Warner Bros. The second album, My Life, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 1993.  Her third album, The Way I Should is a legendary break away from her previous lyrical style.  Her first two albums were introspective and personal; The Way I Should was highly political and attacked hypocrisy and class warfare in the United States.  Listen to “Wasteland of the Free” with a mirror in your hand so you can examine yourself.

Since her burst of creative excellence in the 90′s, she faded into the background.   In 1999, she sang four duets with John Prine on his “In Spite of Ourselves” album and earned a Grammy nomination in the process.  Ms. Dement has made frequent appearances on Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion, and appeared in the 2000 film Songcatcher, playing the character Rose Gentry and singing on the soundtrack as well.

In 1994, Natalie Merchant of 10,000 Maniacs performed Dement’s song “Let the Mystery Be” with David Byrne for the MTV Unplugged.   Here is Iris Dement performing “Let The Mystery Be”

In 2005, Iris Dement returned to recording with Lifeline, a collection of 19^th century gospel and church music she released on her own.  Ms. Dement claims that the music contained here became her lifeline through a season of hardship.

While Iris Dement has slowed her musical output, the trilogy of albums recorded in the 90′s puts her at the top of One21music’s list of artists.  Her’s is truly music written from a foundation of hope and faith that connects with how we live our out our faith in this world.

Go check out more of Iris Dement’s music digitally on

You can also get her CDs on Amazon: Infamous Angel(1992), My Life(1994), The Way I Should(1996), Lifeline(2004)

Okey, so you may have to open your mind a bit with this one, but its free, so take a chance already!!  (morse) is a downbeat/experimental electronic artist out of Ohio. His stuff is very….bizarre, mainly composed of deconstructed sounds and tones, all layered on top of one another to create something that is truely unique. You know us, we love unique.  It may take a few listens to get whats going on here, but you wont be disappointed. Here is the drill, right-click the link below and do a Save Target As (it may be Save Link As), extract the files from the ZIP file, and you got music for your ears. Enjoy!

Download (morse)- A|| Look To The Heavens ||Z for free

2009 is up and going, and things are starting to pick up again for us around here. Some formatting issues didn’t let me post a New Releases post this week, but we have taken care of it, so there will be one up next week. I promise.  Anyway, the music scene is starting to go back to work, so the news is a bit more plentiful than past posts. We do this every week (almost every week) to keep you, the reader, up to date on what is happening in the Christian music industry. If you think we have missed something, or you want to hear about your favorite Christian artist, hit us up in that Contact Us tab over there, and we will do our best to change our ways..

Friction Family did an interview that debuted on hearitfirst.com. They were also featured in Billboard Magazine. Watch Friction Family video interview. See Friction Family in Billboard Magazine.

Rapper Apple Jaxx put a new song called “Rebel” for free download. Download a free Apple Jaxx MP3.

Emery and Underoath announced their European tour together. Check tour dates for Emery.

HANDS updated fans from the road about their latest tour and whats going on with the band. Read HANDS tour blog.

Glam metal icons Stryper posted the track listing for their latest CD. Read Stryper’s tracklisting for their new CD, Murder By Pride.

Agraceful is streaming their entire CD right now on myspace. Listen to Agraceful’s full CD, The Great I Am.

A live video of Copeland surfaced on Buzznet.com this week. Watch a live music video of Copeland.

Skillet gave a huge update concerning new music and various band stuff. Read updates on Skillet.

Indievisionmusic.com did a great interview with Tooth And Nail Records owner/founder Brandon Ebel. Read the online interview with Brandon Ebel of Tooth And Nail.

Believer’s official announcement concerning their signing to Meta Blade Records was made public. Read Metal Blade Records official annnouncent on signing Believer.

Rapper KJ-52 posted another of his ongoing video devotionals, this one is entitled “Who Do You Compare To?”. Watch KJ-52′s video devontional #12.

Underneath The Gun posted an update concerning their new CD, Forfiet Misfourtunes, being featured on Smartpunk.com, new tours, and their purevolume site. Read updates for Underneath The Gun.

Yours For Mine‘s new album, Dear Children, was reviewed by highbeamreview.com, christianmusiczine.com, and jtindie.com. Read Dear Children CD review on highbeam. Read Dear Children review on christianmusiczine.com. Read Dear Children CD review on jtindie.

Red has new music video up for the song “Death Of Me” on their website. Watch Red’s music video for “Death Of Me”.

High Valley issued their latest e-news update concerning a new CD, tours, and joining a cruise next winter. Read news updates for High Valley.

Esther O’Conner gave a short update on her Christmas break, and some new songs from her new CD. Read Esther O’Conner updates.

Abandon Kansas posted their first tour vidoe blog from their “Left Coast Tour”. Watch video tour blog from Abanddon Kansas.

Open Grave Records signed I Built The Cross this week. Read Open Grave Records announce the signing of I Built The Cross.

The artwork for THE ASCENDICATE’s new album made its way online this week. See the cover art for the CD To Die As Kings.

Brain “Head” Welch will be holding open auditions for his touring band very soon. Read how to audition for Brian Welch’s touring band.

Veronica Ballestrini gave asmall update about her new album. Read updates from Veronica Ballestrini.

R-Swift‘s new video for the song “Lifetime” hit the web this week. Watch R-Swift’s video for “Lifetime”.

A rendition of of “A Little Help From My Friends” featuring Dustin Kensrue (Thrice), Jon Foreman (Switchfoot), and Aaron Gillespie (Underoath/The Almost) recorded at a recent To Write Love On Her Arms event was posted on Spin.com this week. Watch the all-star video of “A Little Help From My Friends”.

Anathallo gave an interview to AbsolutePunk.net this week. Read Ananthallo interview.

The HipHope 2009 website launched this week to promote the album in February. You can listen to many of the 15+ songs through the website, and also read short bios on each of the artists featured on this year’s compilation. Check out HipHope 2009′s website.

Cornerstone Festival revamped and updated their website this week. A few bands were announced, along with an address from the fest’s director. Visit the Cornerstone Festival 2009 website.

Mae will be releasing a new song in MP3 form, every month, for a year. All proceeds will go charity. Read information on Mae’s charity song drive.

A press release concerning August Burns Red was issued this week. Read August Burns Red’s official press release.

Facedown Fest 09′s website launch this week. Visit Facedown Fest 09.

Dolly Parton announced she will be taking part of the “From The Heart Series”. Read the official announcement about Dolloy Parton and the “From The Heart Series”.

A huge update on Rebecca St. James was posted this week on her myspace. Read Rebecca St. James updates.

The Fray‘s new video for their song, “You Found Me” premiered this week. Watch the video for “You Found Me” by The Fray.

KJ-52‘s video for his song “Stuck In The 80′s” palso premiered this week. Watch the video for “Stuck In The 80s” by KJ-52.

Over the last decade, popular music has both benefited and suffered from the sudden evolution of technology.  MP3 technology has changed the music industry in ways never thought possible, facilitating easy storage and making new music widely available.  With this convenience however, a moral and legal issue concerning the use of these MP3 files has become a common place and heated debate. As believers in Christ, we have a duty to rise above the rest and truly discover where is the right place to stand on this issue.

A few weeks ago, I commented to my family that I was amazed at some of the artists that had broken the top fifty on Billboard Top 100.  Specifically, I was happy to see that Underoath had debuted very high in its first week of sales.  Underoath is not only a heavy screamo band, but they are also a band of Christians.  My brother’s response to Underoath’s chart success  was that it might be because they have a built a fan base of believers.  Could this be that this Christian fan base actually went out and bought the album, instead of just downloading it (illegally)?

My brother’s premise could be true if Christians believe that the the practice of illegally downloading music MP3′s is wrong. I am not so sure.  A few years ago, I wrote a rant on my personal blog site dealing with the issue of Christians and file-sharing.  What stuck in my mind the most was the venomous response I got from fellow students at Dallas Baptist University. I had several friends of mine who were not believers come to me in a spirit of understanding and discussion, but from my fellow believers, accusations of legalism and superiority.

It occurred to me a that many people truly do not believe that file sharing, or the practice of obtaining music without paying or going through legal venues, is wrong.  For many years I was on the fence about it until I took several music business courses in college, and learned that not only was it morally wrong, but illegal.  The practice is so widely accepted, most people just assume that it is not a crime to obtain music in this manner.  I assure you it is, and while I do not agree with the FBI going all S.W.A.T. team on 13 yr olds, believers we have no business getting music this way.

I want you to understand that I am aware that this issue can bring out some heated opinions. So, because of that, I will try to set this up in the best way I can.  This post is meant to spur discussion, so believe me when I say, I know this isn’t a perfectly crafted argument, but I believe it is a sound one.

To start off, I will say that I am mainly addressing other believers on this matter. If you are not a Christian don’t take that to mean that this post has no bearing on you, but my arguments focus on the body of Christ.  So, if we profess to believe in Jesus Christ, and accept Him as our Lord and Savior, we then also believe that His word (the Bible) is the written word of God, and therefore is Truth. A truth that we strive to live by everyday (and fail most times). In that word, we are told to follow two specific things that relate to this issue.

The first is that we not steal: MATTHEW 19: 18-19 ( translation-The Message)

The man asked, “What in particular?”

Jesus said, “Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, honor your father and mother,       and love your neighbor as you do yourself.”

The second is to follow the laws of the land: TITUS 3:1-2 (translation- The Message)

Remind the people to respect the government and be law-abiding, always ready to lend a helping hand. No insults, no fights. God’s people should be bighearted and courteous.

These are the things that as Christians we believe and hold true. The problem is that most people don’t truly believe that they are violating any laws by pirating music.  We will come back to the believer aspect of this argument in a moment, but let’s explore for a moment what makes up copyright laws concerning music.

It would be very easy for to just reference and post a definition for copyright and copyright law in this post, however, the definition is so extensive it would cause this post to far exceed a few pages. Instead, I will give the layman’s definition of what a copyright does for music. A person(s) writes a piece of music.  This person(s) is referred to as the creator, or author of this piece of music, also referred to as a “work”. The author has all rights to this work, also known Exclusive Rights. These Exclusive Rights give the author the ability to not only record and distribute the work, but also the ability to make money off of that work.  The other right that the author has is to sell or assign those rights.  This is how most record labels end up with the rights to songs at the end of the day, because most signing processes include a negotiation of Exclusive Rights between the label and the author.  After the work has been recorded and distributed for sale, the Exclusive Rights holder is STILL the only party with those Exclusive Rights.

This is where the confusion usually sets in. Just because we as consumers are able to purchase the music, we are only buying a copy. The master of these recordings remains the property of whomever owns the Exclusive Rights.  Just because the MP3s are in our computers now, this does not mean that any of these rights have been transferred to us.  Further, because none of these rights have been transferred, we specifically have no right to distribute the MP3s now in our possession.  So, because of this, receiving these distributed files in opposition to the rights held by author, is illegal.

So, since the distribution of works that we do not own the Exclusive Rights to is illegal, and according to the scriptures listed above that tell us to obey the laws of the land and not steal, and if as believers we are bond to the Word of God; then as Christians, we cannot download or obtain music through any means which is not legal and fair.

What is your stance on this subject? Do you believe that there are exceptions? What are they?  Do you think that the issue is even worth debating?

Well, you can’t say we never gave you anything.  We have done about four of these now, and none of the MP3 album downloads have been the same. This time we are presenting a little reggae action. Dominic Ballie is Christian reggae/hip-hopper from LA, and is feeling a little generous this time around. Good news for us, because that means we all get a new album for FREE. You know the drill, click on the link below (or Save Target As), download the zip. file, extract the files from the zip., and you got some sweet new tunes.

Dominic Balli & The Roots Republic- Public Announcement free download