LOOP COMMUNITY
HOW TO RELEASE MUSIC AT YOUR CHURCH W / ROBBY BUSICK | Matt McCoy
Robby Busick joins Loop Community Founder Matt McCoy to share his advice and expertise on helping churches release their own music . Robby worked with Bethel Music for eight years in publishing and on their record label . He is also a songwriter and has founded The Indie Friend to help churches and indie artists get started releasing their own music .
[ Matt ] How do you introduce new songs to your church without interrupting your worship flow ?
[ Robby ] I think it does depend on the church environment . You should first create a culture for writing and releasing your own songs as a Worship Pastor and allow feedback . If you haven ’ t had conversations about it , it may disrupt the worship . Some practical tips are to only introduce one new song at a time , make sure your worship team has really practiced it , communicate to your congregation that you ’ re trying it out and explain why you wrote the song for your church .
[ Matt ] If a church has written and recorded their own songs , what is the next step they should take ?
[ Robby ] Most people when they call me say , “ How do I do what Bethel did ?” But it starts at stewarding the people in front of you . It starts with stewarding the heart with which God is working in your specific environment . If you try to do what other people have done , you become an imitator and you won ’ t stand out . The only way to stand out , is to be authentic . If you ’ ve done that , then you want to make sure you have buy-in from senior leadership , you know who is involved on your worship team , and you have the album ready .
Then , the first thing to work on after that is a plan for how you want to communicate this album to the world . You can upload it to a distribution platform , but the marketing of it can get tricky . As a church , you don ’ t want to be salesy . The way you communicate the album is very important . When you have done the work of what the mission you have is , your marketing can be a ministry opportunity .
[ Matt ] Should a church expect to get their money back when releasing an album ?
[ Robby ] A lot of churches will say it ’ s not about money , but you should be collecting
royalties when releasing your own property , so that you can be good stewards with that money . Now , if you ’ re pouring $ 50,000 into a project as a church and you aren ’ t an established brand as a church , you ’ re not going to see that money back . But there are many other reasons for why you should create an album . You have a congregation of people who want to be engaged with songs that are specific to their church outside of a Sunday morning . That ’ s a good reason to write and release music ! If you need to make the money back from your album , you probably shouldn ’ t release music as a church . Your return on the investment is the Kingdom .
Watch the full interview with Robby for even more tips on releasing music at your church !
Matt McCoy Matt is a worship leader , songwriter and Ableton Certified Trainer from Chicago , IL . He has been using Ableton and tracks in worship since 2002 . He ’ s passionate about creating new products and teaching worship leaders and artists how to use technology in live performance . www . LoopCommunity . com 30 July 2024 Subscribe for Free ...