Who Sells Inspirational Music?

Inspirational music, at this time, is clearly an unclaimed category. That’s why it is such an exciting business venture. Its potential customers are listed in the millions at a time when the whole concept of the need for Inspiration around the world is mighty. There are a growing handful of players in the category.

The following websites are the top seeds on Google search engines for “Inspirational Music” and “Christian Music”.

Inspirationline.com This site is the #1 site on Google for Inspirational Music and gives away free digital downloads, but all the songs are basically rip-offs of known artists.

eztracks.com Gives away some rip-offs of known artists and also sells them as Digital Down Loads (DDLs) through i-Tunes. Both of these sites demand email info before doing anything.

Inspirationalldsmusic.com This is an LDS (Mormon) site. It is handled well, but only sells LDS music (37 Artists). Does not sell DDLs or Hard Goods on the site.

Christiantuner.com A Christian Music radio station. Not ecommerce.

Winamp.com One can download free Inspirational music with the purchase of the Winamp software. Music production is not particularly good.

Calabashmusic.com This is really a World Music site with a small Inspirational category. When you find something you like, and start the purchase, it takes you to eztracks.com which then takes you to i-Tunes for final purchase. Long and involved process.

Amazon/inspirational.com A very odd division of Amazon. Deeply unorganized. No separation of genres – everything lumped together in a hodge-podge. About 140 titles. An Amazon afterthought.

Mienet.com This also is an odd Christian site that promotes Christian product (books, movies, knick-knacks) but strangely enough sells secular music and as far as we can tell, doesn’t really have Christian music.

Christianmusic.com A reference site only. No ecommerce. If you want to buy, it takes you to musicchristian.com.

Musicoffaith.com Non-original artist ripoffs. Offers free music, but no hard goods sales.

Christianity.com Same as above.

Musicchristian.com Reference site only. Very confusing.

Integritymusic.com This is one of the big 3 of Christian Music Labels. They command 13.5 percent of the label market share. Site is excellent, between 20 & 30 Christian music stars, they sell hard goods CDs off site but no DDLs.

Sparrowrecords.com This is another one of the big 3 of Christian Music Labels. Site is excellent, they have 24 Christian music stars. They sell no hard good CDs off site or DDLs.

wordlabelgroup.com This is the number one of the big 3 of Christian Music Labels. Site is excellent, they have 22 Christian music stars, they sell hard goods CDs off site but no DDLs.

Singingnews.com This is an on-line Christian magazine that is reference only. They talk about Christian music but sell no music off the site.

Watchfiremusic.com With free music downloads without prior email address commitments, a roster of 56 Inspirational artists, video, and both hard good and DDL sales right from the site, WFM is already placed as one of the leaders of both the Inspirational and Christian music website categories.

What Is Inspirational Music?

What is Inspirational Music?

To inspire is “…to breathe life into”. To lift thought higher. To fill with hope. Inspirational music is just that. The genre of the music doesn’t matter – it can be pop, country, jazz, R&B, gospel, heavy mental – whatever. The lyrics must be in some way uplifting.

A love song is an Inspirational song. “I woke up this morning and I feel good.” is an Inspirational lyric. It is inclusive; it is spiritually trans-denominational. All are included. Along the way it promises to brighten your life and enliven your soul. How? Simple, really. With great music.

We claim a new category. At a time in our world when fear is rampant and hope is down, the ability to inspire mankind seems to be of utmost necessity. And so we set out on this musical adventure with the goal to preach to none, but to include all in our endeavors.

What are the endeavors?

Inspirational music embraces all spiritual ideas but promotes no religious theology.

Inspirational music spans all cultures, religions and people. It believes that all people have inside of themselves truth, life, love, spirit, soul.And so it serves all mankind.

Inspirational music has no doctrine to preach, no mission to fulfill except to offer positive value in the music and lyrics.

It is its mission only to be a gathering of light.

Inspirational books are a clearly defined category. We all know what Inspirational books are. Books that inspire. Well, Inspirational music is the same. It is music that inspires us – to reach greater heights, to be a better person, to love mankind, to carry on.

Where is God in all this? Where He or She or It always was and is — right smack in the middle, at the circumference… and everywhere in between. If you don’t believe in God, or if you don’t believe in your old definition of God, Inspirational music is there to help you find your peace when you are at war, help you be a better individual on the planet, or help you find a new and better definition. If you do believe in God, Inspirational music is there to do the same as above.

We say that Inspirational music is a new category and yet it’s really as old as music itself. It is the cave man beating on the stretched skin of an animal. It is the synthesist programming Spectrasonics Omnisphere. It is an old man on a curb, whiskey voice and gutbucket guitar, howling at the moon. It is the Beatles changing the world. It is Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. It is Frank Zappa. It is A Chorus Line. It is Puccini’s Madam Butterfly.

Inspirational music, if done right, should speak to all of us – or one of us. Ultimately it reconnects with its derivation. That is, it breathes life into people no mater what their religion, their culture, their tradition. It wakes you up, it calms you down, it lightens your life, it deepens your thought.

Inspirational music inspires.

For The Birds

For five years my wife and I had a house at 9000 feet in the mountains of Colorado. With relatively few neighbors, (I say relatively few because here in NYC we have 10 million) we lived on 5 unmolested acres of wooded land in a mountain paradise, in a house of picture windows, each one framing a gorgeous shot of the mountains that surrounded us. Bear, elk, fox, deer and other various animal folk visited our yard every morning. We had bear claw scratches on our wooden deck and outer door frames. Fun for a couple of New Yorkers who visited regularly.

I had a second recording studio there that also looked out on nature and all its glories and my wife, Julia, ringed the house with bird feeders so that we were a regular mall for birds. Instead of waking up in the morning to buses and sirens and NYC, we woke to the songs of birds. And yes, we became bird watchers.

Our hands down favorites were the humming birds. These amazing feathered friends would frantically slurp our spiked sugar water for hours outside our windows. They got so used to us that when Julia would refill the feeders, they couldn’t wait and would drink from the feeder still in her hand.

Sometimes I would be deeply immersed in my music recording, with the speakers cranked, and I would turn in my chair and there would be 3 or 4 staring in the window at me, wings ablaze in flight, doin’ that hummingbird boogie. We loved these little guys and spoke about them and watched them daily and kept paper birds taped to all our windows so they wouldn’t crash into them and break their little necks.

We sold the house. Julia’s job in Boston every weekend prohibited us from visiting. Oh how we miss them birds! But for five years, off and on, we lived with them and they were a big part of our life. So this song is for the birds…

Tweedle ee deet ‘n’ dee dee
Deet
‘N’ dee dee
Deet
‘N’ dee dee

This song is for the birds
This song is for the birds

There’s a blue jay on my doorstep
Tryin’ to steal the laces
Off my runnin’ shoes
He’s some kinda mad kleptomaniac
He can’t help it cause it’s in his genes
He don’t read the magazines
So he don’t know what kleptomania means

Clear of conscience,
But still guilty as sin.

So this song is for the birds
This song is for the birds

There’s a hummingbird at my window
Lookin’ at me while I write this song
And we’re eyeball to eyeball
Listenin’ to his wings beat the rhythm of life
Listenin’ to his wings beat the rhythm of life
Listenin’ to his wings beat the rhythm of life
Hummingbird
Hmmmmmmmmm
Hummingbird
Hmmmmmmmmm
Hummingbird

Tweedle ee deet ‘n’ dee dee
Deet
‘N’ dee dee
Deet
‘N’ dee dee

Birds:

They don’t know where they come from
Don’t know where they’re goin’ to
Don’t have time to wonder
Too busy flyin’ at the moon
Too busy tryin’ to prune
Too busy workin’
For the early mornin’ worms
Singin’
Baby I’ll be comin’ home soon

So this song is for the birds
This song is for the birds

There’s a woodpecker peckin’
On the side a my house
Puttin’ a hole where there ain’t one
An’ it ain’t very nice
I already got me some mice
And they’re fillin’ my life with their holes

Just like the moles.

And oh what a mess
But I got to confess
That I tend to digress

Point being:

This song is for the birds
This song is for the birds

There’s an eagle in my back yard
Wonderin’ what became of America
He’s got the whole world on his shoulders
Musta gone bald thinkin’ about the a-bomb
Musta gone bald just tryin’ ta’ stay calm
He’s still worryin’ about Vietnam

Somebody oughta tell ‘im.
The war’s over.

And this song is for the birds
This song is for the birds

Each mornin’ they sing a new symphony
It’s a soaring cantata to the sky above
An’ it’s all about feathers an’ makin’ love

Tweedle ee deet ‘n’ dee dee
Deet
‘N’ dee dee
Deet
‘N’ dee dee

So this song is for the birds!

You can listen to and buy this song (if you’re a bird lover too) at Watchfire Music, or by visiting Peter Link’s Artist Page.

I Am Free

I was given an assignment (and paid well, I might add) to write a song about being free. When I heard the title assigned to the task by the client, I secretly groaned in disappointment. “This song has already been written a thousand times”, I said to myself. But I took the money and ran with it.

I put off starting the song for days. The clichés coursing through my brain were deadly to the creative process. Finally, with little time left, I reluctantly began the process.

I thought, “Well, what’s the biggest cliché in song?” The answer: “I love you.” And yet those three little words make up one of the world’s most cherished utterances. So what makes a cliché a cliché? No real content, no true meaning, no real stuff behind the words, in short, no truth.

I turned to the fertile ground of imagination. I pulled from the memory of a powerful healing I had as a child. I literally lay on the floor of my studio in the dark and reconstructed this childhood miracle perpetuated by my mother’s healing thought and God’s infinite grace. I re-lived the emotions and grandeur of the experience in my imagination. Moments later I was no longer afraid of the creative experience. I got up and wrote this song.

By the way, Jenny Burton adds to the mix and brings total magic and originality to the vocal on the CD.

I wept last week as the song was sung at a dear friend’s memorial. She requested it before she passed away. Her passing gave a newly layered meaning of depth to the song.

Feelin’ like a river
Rollin’ through this valley of life
Free like a river
A river that’s rollin’ on
On and on
I’m free

Now I wake up in the morning
The suffering is gone from my life
And I am free from the burden
The burden that I had carried
All of those years gone by

Now where there once was pain
There the peace will reign
Now where there once was fear
Hope is not in vain

Because of You
I’m free
Because of the work you’ve done
Because of the battles won
I’m free
Free now to live in my life
The way I choose in my life
Like the west wind blows
As the river flows
The way it was meant to be

For I have been released
And I have been regained
And I am now at peace
I am free

Now where there once was rain
The sun shines down on me

Yes I have been released
And I have been regained
And I am now at peace
I am free
I am free
I am free!!!

You can find a recording of this song on two different CDs: Peter Link’s “Mindfire” and “The Jenny Burton Experience” both on watchfiremusic.com.

Insight

March 10th, 2009

I like to think of a blog as a modern day soapbox. For some of you, the term “soapbox” may be so archaic as to be unheard of.

Wikipedia to the rescue:

“The term originates from when speakers would stand on a wooden box meant for holding soap. The term is also used metaphorically to describe a person engaging in often flamboyant impromptu or unofficial public speaking, as in the phrases “He’s on his soapbox”, or “Get off your soapbox.”

Well. I’ve been dabbling in this modern form of “soapboxing” for about a year now. It is, of course, a social phenomenon that has gratefully taken an amazing hold on the public consciousness. Probably some form of grass roots negative reaction to today’s politicians. Except, whereas the old form of soapboxing was mostly political, today’s blog can be just about anything that’s on your mind. All made possible by this amazing invention called the internet.

What’s on my mind these days is Inspiration - all things inspirational. And I’ve now decided, mostly because of the urging of others and the state of our world, to try to get up here on this soapbox every day and establish a real consistency. It’s my promise to you.

There’s one real positive difference between blogging and soapboxing: You’re invited to bring your own soap box to the party. You’re invited to respond. Without you feeding back, it’s just me out here yakkin’.

So get on your soapbox. Join the fun.

Leaving You

3/8/09

We had been married for just four months when she got the job. We were thrilled. Julia was going to sing at the world famous Palermo Opera. A dream come true for her. On top of it, Italy is the paradise of her imagination and dreams. And she would be there for three whole months!

Groan… What was I to do for three whole months? Just married and so soon separated.

And so she flew away. And I waited. Two months went by. Not fun. But then a dear friend who recognized my loneliness actually gave me the money for a plane ticket.

And so I flew away. And for ten wonderful days we lived the way we were meant to live.

But then I had to go home. I couldn’t face another month. The parting at the airport in Palermo was rough. Tears. Two broken hearts. By the time I got on to the plane I was just numb.

And so I flew away. And left her behind…

When I got back to New York I wrote and recorded this song.

LEAVING YOU

I left the hills of Sicily behind me
I flew away from you
Across the Mediterranean moon
I closed my eyes and there you were
Deep inside me

But you’re still down there
A speck upon the ocean
And I sit up here
A speck up in the sky
Here in mid air
Lost in the emotion of goodbye

Leaving you
Is just about the hardest thing
I’ll ever do
Is just about the hardest thing
I’ve ever done
And oh God the leaving’s just begun

[Interlude]

Minutes ago
I held you in my arms
Just minutes ago
Under the Mediterranean moon
I’ll never know
How I could walk away and leave you

But you’re down there
A speck upon the ocean
And I’m up here
A speck up in the sky
And oh what a pair we are
Lost in the emotion of goodbye

Leaving you
Is just about the hardest thing
I’ll ever do
Is just about the hardest thing
I’ve ever done
And oh God the leaving’s just begun

You’re moving on down there
Smiling through your tears
I fly so far away
And wrestle with my fears

[Interlude]

Leaving you
Is just about the hardest thing
I’ll ever do
Is just about the hardest thing
I’ve ever done
And oh God the leaving’s just begun
Oh God the leaving’s just begun
Oh God the leaving…

Click through to Thru Me page to listen to song – it’s a free download.

To Breathe Life Into…

March 7th, 2009

The root definition of the word “inspire” is from the Greek. Inspir – to breathe life into.

If there was ever a time that the world needs Inspiration, it is now. It is Inspiration that can lead us all out of this mess. And we’re not just talking about financial inspiration here, we’re talking about something much purer, much more universal, much deeper.

If we all look each day to inspire and to be inspired – how better can we lift our lives. Can we breathe life into each other? Can we inspire ourselves through giving? Can inspirational thought lift the countenance of the world? You bet.

A depression is just that – depression. To press down on. Rather we should be lifting up. It was human beings that got us into this mess. It’ll be inspired human beings that get us out. I’m gonna do my part. I’ve decided. If each of us lifts our lives just a little, maybe a lot, this world will work. It’s on each of us.

Breathe a little life into someone today. Inspire.

For more inspiration, visit our Inspirational Music Website, Watchfire Music.

~ Peter Link

Insight-Nancy Morris

March 5th, 2009

Nancy Morris with Bobby Stanton

I’m sitting here in my easy chair, Mac in my lap, hot chocolate in my cup, drifting along to the Inspirational sounds of Nancy Morris’ new CD, My Favorite Hymns. This was one rough day. Lately it just seems like an inordinate number of close friends have been called to move on.

Perhaps she was needed elsewhere

Perhaps wherever elsewhere is

They’ve got their troubles too

Perhaps that mighty spirit

Just joined Mindy and John

Yeah that’s why they’re gone

They were needed elsewhere*

Perplexing, this life. Jill, Suzanne, Chucky, Don, — all great friends, gone, but not forgotten.

So I sit here and simply remember. But the phone rings, the sirens wail, the pressures of tomorrow loom and I just can’t wrap my mind around it all. So I put on some music — Nancy Morris’ new CD, My Favorite Hymns – to be specific. And the world goes away. The images of meaningful lives pass through my consciousness and the music takes me to the heart.

Hymns. Amazing, simple, evocative hymnsongs. What could be sweeter? At this moment, nothing. I don’t get a chance to slow down very often, but this moment, right here and now, I’m in my right place – because of the music.

Ahhhh, there’s my friend Bobby Stanton on guitar adding his magic – no words, just pure music and simple straightforward classic hymns. And Jill, Suzanne, Chucky and Don are here with me smiling and laughing and singin’ along.

Thank you, Nancy.

*From: Needed Elsewhere, Lyric by Peter Link