A monthly message from Fred Lynch. Fred is the founder of GodStyle Productions, a ministry committed to changing youth culture. For more information on Fred, visit his website or check out his latest project, The Epic (the gospel of John translated into rap).
August 2006
I'm writing this article from one of the best summer camps designed for the urban student in the entire country; it's called Kids Across America a.k.a KAA (U-KNOW!) We're up here in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri where we just finished a great pool party. The entire camp showed up at the pool and everyone is having a great time.
Teens and music: what an explosive combination!
I want you to picture the scene: kids jumping into the pool, splashing the adult group leaders with water as we all watch making sure everyone is having safe, holy fun (you know how those pool parties can go bad if you let your guard down); and one dominant element is blaring in the background that seems to tie all of these individuals together: the music. As the DJ pumps out every style and genre of music that would appeal to the urban teen yet with a strong gospel edge I'm sitting back and looking at this display of 21st Century Holy Culture and I realize that 25 years ago we surely didn't have it like that, but I'm so glad that teens have the music out now. Teens and music: what an explosive combination.
This month in our 2nd part of Summer Sounds we're going to look at different sites where you can lead your students to either check out the latest sounds that cater to them or even toss some of their own jams up and let the world feel their flava. One of my favorite sites where artist can share their gifts with the world is Sound Click. Just go to www.soundclick.com to visit the site. The idea is simple. You have a page with a profile of you or your band, and a page where people can go and listen to your music. There are also options where you can sell your music online through Sound Click as well.
Speaking of options, it seems like the optimal choice now days is MySpace. Many artist are displaying and selling their music through MySpace. The concept is only a little more complicated to get your page up and running, but the good news is that your students live in this type of world, and it's nothing to them to put together a MySpace site for your youth group, you can place a page where your students can put up their favorite song list and view other people's list. Just go to www.myspace.com. Now I have to tell you to be on guard with MySpace as well as all of these sites. But since MySpace is such a popular site right now, you have all type of fools out there trying to connect with students (which can make a strong argument why we should be up in MySpace making pages) so keep your discernment up as you go through these sites.
Now since this web world is so ruthless, you have to be as wise as a serpent, yet harmless as a dove. One site that you can go to check out information on copyright protection for your music is www.creativecommons.org. Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that offers flexible copyright licenses for creative works from audio to video and visuals. Virtually anything you can put online, they can show you how to protect it. Well that's it for this month, and remember the summer ain't over yet; go out there and pump up your ipods, download your gospel music mixes and share them with your students! Help them make the moment one that they'll treasure forever.
FREDDIE FREEBIE: Here's a list of some great sites to buy music online:
http://music.download.com
http://www.mp3search.com
http://www.realmusicnow.com
http://stores.ebay.com/iHoopla/Sell-Your-Music-Online.html (this is a new one through ebay, it's hot)
Sharing the gospel from 'Street to Street',
Fred Lynch III
GodStyle Productions
Fred Lynch is the founder of GodStyle Productions, a ministry committed to changing youth culture. For more information on Fred, visit his website or check out his latest project, The Epic (the gospel of John translated into rap).
