Summary: Crazy that we’re at number 20. Time just keeps on moving! We have a shorter episode today, but a lot to mention. Here are the four main things talked about. Big Launch Giveaway winner, contests, and a look at biblical competition Audience Building Discovering New Music Segment with Stephen Bradley Part 3 of our productivity series The winner of the Big Launch Giveaway We launched the site on June 15th and to help get it going, we did what we called the Big Launch Giveaway. There were over 800 entries. Awesome! People were tweeting about the site, signing up, and spreading the word... But you know what’s more exciting than that? A very fortunate winner will receive a $200 gift certificate to sweetwater.com to go towards their music making journey. And that to me is awesome. So I don’t wanna leave you hanging... So the winner of the Big Launch Giveaway is Chris Etling. Congrats Chris! We’ll be doing more giveaways... Primarily through our e-mail list, so make sure you sign up for our newsletter and you won't miss out on exclusive giveaways and prizes. There's an opt in form below this post. Another contest going on currently, not at CMB, but at weareworship.com, is a songwriting contest that a handful of CMB-ites have signed up for, including myself. WeAreWorship is looking for a song, born in the local church. A song that is not only one born out of a worshiper's heart, but one that is born out of a worshiping community. A song serving the local church. Here's a link to a recent blog post about the song contest with a list of CMB-ites submitted their music. A word on contests, and competitions... Is competition biblical? I was talking with someone about that this week. Can Christians enter contests like this? I believe the answer is yes. I wouldn’t encourage you to enter it if I thought there was something ungodly about contests. The issue isn’t competition. The issue is our heart. What’s the motive? Why do you want to win? Do you want to win too much? What lengths will you go to win in a game or a sports match? Will you cheat? Will you steal? Will you get mad and start a fight? Those are the things people often think about when it comes to really competitive people. Here's the issue: Not the competition itself, but the character of those involved. The world looks at competition completely differently than God does. The devil does not create. The devil only perverts! God has created a world that has in it work and reward. God’s economics are not socialism. He gives the gifts he wants, in the measure he wants, to the people he wants - and he asks them to be faithful with them. To work at them. To become better at them. Think of Paul who uses the runner as a metaphor. The runner competes in such a way to win the prize. But the runner should be one of integrity; not pushing down others around him in order to win, but simply doing his very best with what God has given him. The runner still wants to win! He runs in such a way to win the prize. He does his best. That is good, healthy, Biblical competition... ...And here’s the thing: It glorifies God when you see people in a contest who honor and respect each other. Audience Building As a practical example of what artists can do to promote their song in a contest like this, you can check out a landing page that I created at my personal site where I’m giving away a chord chart and mp3 for Glorious God. It’s the song I entered, and that’s one way that I’m getting the word out... Head over to this page and you can download a free mp3 and chord chart of the song. The reason I say this, is because this is something we will talk about a lot at CMB. How musicians and artists can grow in their understanding of building an audience through blogging and online inbound content marketing. That’s certainly something I’m passionate about helping artists learn more about... More on that later...
