“It’s important not to get hung up in “how many songs” you play. It IS important to get a vision for your show and for you to think about what MOMENTS you want the audience to experience!

“Check this blog (Tom Jackson) wrote a while ago – it has some concepts that are important when you’re planning your live show. And when you’re done reading, leave your comments and questions…read more

If you’re not familiar with #MusicMonday on Twitter, it’s a hashtag (#) campaign… Users promote bands, blog posts, videos by adding #musicmonday to their tweets…

We’re going to use this to promote indie christian musicians…

We selected 4 artists and we’ll tweet their website URL on rotating weeks beginning next Monday…

You guys can check them out now…

Steve Garrioch

Todd Vaters

Geof Kimber

Lynne Modranski

Artists were selected based several criteria, including ministry, content, site appearance and music.

And now we’re ready to start the beta test…

Now, if our site had a lot of moving parts, we’d be using the next six months  to make sure everything works… taking user feedback and rewriting code and all sorts of other technical stuff…

But we don’t have a lot of moving parts…

So, OUR beta process will look a little different… We’re going to focus on promotions, features and gathering reader input about content…

Changes that you might notice…

This week, we’ll be adding a tool that will allow Facebook, Twitter and Flickr users to contribute content to the site through an outside media website… The media site is also in beta, so we will be inviting a limited number of reader-contributors to test the functionality of the interface… Once the media site opens for business in September, we’ll tell you how you can join too…

We’ll also be starting our #MusicMonday promotion for independent artists on Twitter on Monday, August 3.

Our Featured Artist program is gearing up to present a new artist every 2 weeks, beginning August 3… We have some great artists lined-up to introduce in August and September.

We will be changing how the slideshows work… This is the number 1 user-recommendation that we’ve received in the past 2 months… You’ll see this improvement on this week’s Flickr Frlday post…

Finally, we’ve added a WOP Bookstore at Amazon.com… We’ll be adding recommendations from WOP staff and friends…

Changes that you probably won’t notice at all…

All of our programs are being streamlined internally… For example, we’re adding processes and forms to the way we invite content, contact artists and tag posts, photos and media… You won’t notice, but it will free us up to spend more time creating and inviting great content…

Where all of this is going…

Ultimately, we have established 2 goals:

Create a site that motivates and inspires artists to use their gifts in ministry and worship…

Create a site that assists churches is starting ministries to artists, for artists  and by artists…

How you can get involved…

Comment on everything!  If you like a post, show us some love… If you disagree with a post, show us some critical thinking (with love)…

Retweet us on Twitter whenever you find a useful or interesting post… “Like” our posts on Facebook…

If you blog, photoshare or produce media that is focused on art, worship, ministry or inspiration, you can contribute content to the site by joining our beta test group… We are limiting the number of users, so contact us to request an invite… and don’t be offended if we reply that the pool is full…

If you are an artist in any medium, contact us with a brief blurb about yourself and your art, include some samples or a link to your website… You might be selected to be one of our Featured Artists…

Become a fan on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, subscribe to our YouTube channel and join our group on Flickr.

Thanks!!

The only requirement is a website with a basic analytics or “hit tracker” installed.

How the program works:

We will tweet a link to your website 3 times during the day on Monday with the #musicmonday tag. You email us on Tuesday and report any spikes in your site traffic.

From the responders, we will select 6 indie artists and feature them on alternating Mondays for the rest of 2009.

Click here and give us your website link and email address.