If you didn’t catch it the first time we talked about it, tonight is the night that Third Day will be performing and promoting their new album “Revelation” which released today. Cool stuff for the guys in the band, their fans and Christian Music in general.

Mark Lee is blogging about the experience on the Official Third Day blog and also mentions tidbits here and there on his twitter updates.

Go to your local bookstore or retailer and pick-up a copy of Revelation today. You can also purchase it from your favorite online retailer like:

• MusiChristian.com
• Amazon.com
• iTunes

• Vicky Beeching: ”Twenty-Six Summers”
• This Beautiful Republic: “Casting Off”

Check out the HearItFirst website where you too can sign-up for their e-mail newsletter and be notified when other great artists have their songs available as free downloads. The free downloads are available in Windows Media Player or iTunes formats.

I may not have been doing HearItFirst much of a service either. There’s plenty more to grab at their site. Exclusive interviews, music  videos, contests, album reviews and more!

Check them out at www.hearitfirst.com

This wasn’t one of my favorite songs by tobyMac, but hey! you can’t argue with free music right? The current song being played on the radio by tobyMac that I really like is “Made to Love”, that song really rocks. You can get the song free right now when you pre-order “Portable Sounds” from iTunes. tobyMac’s latest album, “Portable Sounds”, hits stores a week from today, Tuesday, February 20th, 2007.

iTunes celebrates the 10th Anniversary edition of dc Talk’s Jesus Freak  with a look at the band’s essential albums, solo projects from band members tobyMac and Kevin Max, and an exploration of the mark they’ve made on the landscape of contemporary Christian music.

One thing I will say that irritates me about iTunes, there is no website. You have to open the iTunes software to get any of the information. That’s just annoying.

No really, Hear It First is by far the best site I’ve seen that gives away free music on a regular basis for both your favorites artists as well as introduce you to new artists and expand your horizons. You also get access to exclusive artist video interviews as well, this week they talk to Michael W. Smith. You can also get an exclusive sneak peek (what’s the right word for an audio sneak peak?) of tobyMac’s new album release and included song, “Made to Love”.

All you need to do for all this free music is sign-up for their e-mail newsletter and then you can be notified of the next free music downloads from there site. Now, that doesn’t mean you can stop visiting Christian Music Fan.

This week’s group is the Newsboys and their song “Go”. As always the song download is available in your choice of WMA or M4A format for Windows Media Player or Apple iTunes.

Jon Neufeld of Starfield  – For me the song “Son of God” is a statement of faith…I sometimes struggle to see past the sometimes seemingly fairytale-like story of Jesus on the cross and His redemption of mankind.  So it goes a long way for me to speak out the truths that I believe deep down in my soul, but often struggle to grasp.

The download is available in Windows Media format or iTunes. It’s your choice. Enjoy.

How does this type of information impact Christian artists? What if you’re on iTunes, but you’re buried in separate levels of genres or lists, is it still worth the impact?

The article goes on to state that some artists intentionally avoid iTunes, the Beatles and Kid Rock for example. I think both of them are fairly popular don’t you think?

What’s the impact of MySpace visibility for an artist compared to iTunes? Why couldn’t there be a standard audio file format for all music that would be widely accepted, distributable and protected for publishers and musicians alike. You know, something like MP3!

I also had a thought yesterday. If one of the goals of selling albums is to get you to be more interested in the band or artist, and hopefully even attend a concert, why don’t they include some kind of coupon or voucher in every actual CD you sell. Wouldn’t you buy more albums if you got a $2 off coupon for your next album from the same artist or $10 off a concert ticket for the album? Make it like a rebate program or something.

What do you think?

The website is here and you can subscribe to the podcast directly from iTunes. I’m synch’ing up a few of his podcasts right now to listen to tomorrow on my drive to work. We’ll let you know how it goes and maybe I’ll be sharing some new artists Trevor will introduce to me to you.

Thanks Trevor for introducing yourself and letting me know about your podcast. Anyone else out there think I should know about you? Just send me an e-mail to jason@b5media.com

Does a Christian who sings have to be promoted as a “Christian” artist? Are they less of a Christian if they sing in a secular group? Why do we have to have these labels? Do the labels mean anything more than the difference between a blues genre and jazz? Am I less of a Christian because I enjoy listening to music and albums sold in the “New Age” section of music stores? I know my mother didn’t really like me listening to Yanni or Enya because of that.

Be sure and let me know your thoughts in the comments or in the new poll over there to the right.

Here’s some more reading for you to start to get you thinking about the topic

• Church and State: Mute Math fights the machine at Warner Bros
• How to Fix CCM
• Rock Un-Solid: When Christian bands bite the hands that praised them

For those of you that prefer to download your music, you should check-out the Yahoo! Music Engine. Similar to iTunes, There are a couple of different options available for users, including buying individual songs, unlimited service and internet radio.

The internet radio, or LAUNCHcast Radio, is what I’m really a big fan of right now. It is by far the most user friendly and expansive online radio service I’ve ever used. You can choose to use the free service, which has ads, or if you’re like me just go ahead and purchase the “Plus” service for about $35/yr.

The LAUNCHcast option has five different “stations” for Christian Music Fans like yourself.

• Christian Rock
• Contemporary Christian
• Praise and Worship
• Gospel
• 1990′s Contemporary Christian

Of course you can customize your own station and rate the songs you listen to by artist, album or song. Then  Yahoo! recommends songs that are similar to your choices of preferred songs already. This is how I was introduced to News at Eleven and Downhere.

It’s not all Christian, but if you’d like to check out my station of choices, a link is available below. The other nice thing is that I can choose other people’s stations as “Influencers” to my own station.

Bnpositive’s LAUNCHcast Station