Free mp3s from Aeon’s Promise…
They’re offering 14 different songs for download. I’ve had most of these in my collection for several years, and I’ve never deleted a single one of them. You can read about them here, and download the songs here.
INO Records wants your email address. They also want you to download around 20 songs by nationally-known artists, like:
4 Him
Anthony Evans
Chris Rice
Darlene Zschech
Derek Webb
Mercy Me
Jonah 33
Skillet
Phillips, Craig and Dean
Todd Agnew
Sara Groves
Sonic Flood
If I were you, I’d get right over there. It’s called Free CCM.
Free mp3 of I Have Always Loved You by Addison Road.
They’re also offering podcasts for those who’d like to keep track of their whereabouts. If you’re not familiar with Addison Road, I’d recommend spending a few minutes getting to know them.
If you’re a Yolanda Adams fan, you might want to visit her site. She’s got three videos online for your viewing pleasure.
Her website is very well-done, too…so if you’re working on your site, take note of the tech.
Free mp3 of Knight to Queen’s Bishop Two by A Place Tomorrow.
Don’t let the unassuming picture on their main page fool you…these guys rock hard.
As I’ve recently mentioned, it’s now 2007. I’m doing great with my resolutions, and thought I’d take a few moments to let you all know how 2006 went.
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First, I’d like to mention the emails. I get a lot of email…and I love to get virtually every one. I don’t keep track of numbers for email, so I have nothing to report except that I’d like to thank everyone who writes to me. You rock, even if you aren’t trying to.
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Second, here’s what was new for CCM Links in 2006:
It changed from a static site to a dynamic site. That means that instead of updating pages manually, they’re database-driven. I update the database and it updates the pages. Some might see that as simply doing the same work differently…but try reorganizing the same information in a new way and you’ll see why this was a good idea.
I added this blog.
CCM Links was originally part of one of my other websites, GodWords. It became big enough that I thought it merited a site of its own. That was a number of years ago. When CCM Links was created, it was simply a list of links to artists’ websites. I’d find a new artist’s site and add it here. That was it. When I asked myself how to make CCM Links more valuable to visitors, I saw that all I’d been doing was providing a redirection service. Someone would come here to go somewhere else. Honestly, I’m amazed at the traffic I’ve gotten for just that. The remedy? Offer more. Since I was already visiting the websites, I wondered whether it would be helpful to let people know when free mp3’s were available. I originally wanted to add that info to an “artist page”…but since free songs come and go, I thought it best to make it a blog. Viola. There you go, and here you are.
Very few people comment on my blog. Maybe it’s because I haven’t written a lot of articles…and that’s okay. Generally, you can count on a very low percentage of visitors taking part. I’m just happy to offer a service to both musicians and those who love their work. I’d be remiss, however, in not saying this: if you have something to say about Christian music, I’d like to hear it.
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Finally: here are some stats for CCM Links for 2006:
Total Visits: 20,028
Total Pageviews: 111,629
Busiest Day of the Week: Friday
Busiest Hour of the Day: 1pm (US Mountain Time)
Countries Served: 83 from Algeria to Yugoslavia - that’s 43% of the world!
Most visited pages: Alphabetical Artist Listings (click a letter on the right)
Search Strings: what you type into Google or other search engines to find what you’re looking for…for example, ‘christian radio’ or ‘free christian mp3′. Here’s some interesting info on what brings people to CCM Links:
Unique search phrases: 2,083
Most popular search phrase: ‘contemporary christian music’
Least obvious search phrase (tie): ‘click’ and ‘IE7′ and ’site’
Most-Searched artist: Nicole C. Mullins
Unique radio station searches: 286
Bands represented: everybody from Acappella to Zero Theory
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Conclusions:
This has been CCM Links’ best year ever. I’ve been able to help more people find more Christian artists than ever, and that’s the goal: to spread the word.
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Plans for 2007:
I try not to make too many plans, and I try to avoid making those plans public. I’ve spent too little time on CCM Links in 2006, despite having made some great progress. I’m a full-time freelance web designer, and that keeps me very busy. Sometimes it seems like I haven’t touched the site in months, when it’s only been days. Despite my aversion to making promises I might not be able to keep, here are my plans for 2007:
Review all of the albums I’ve been sent
Redesign/Recode the site
Add more artists and radio stations
Finish the “deadlinks” code so that it’s dynamic
Write more often
Offer free mp3 downloads for artists who can’t do it on their own
If you have a favorite artist that I haven’t listed, please let me know. If you have a favorite radio station (online or off) that I haven’t listed, let me know. If you’re an artist, and would like to feature an mp3 download, podcast, video, etc…let me know.
Have a great 2007!
Well, it’s New Year’s Day. Although I really love Chinese food, I generally celebrate the New Year with the rest of the world. No offense. Since it’s New Year’s Day, I think it’s appropriate to discuss my N.Y.R. (New Year’s Resolutions).
NYR
I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions. I hate the idea. Yes, I realize that it can be helpful to have some sort of milestone to remind you to take stock of the way you’re living…but I resist the urge to do it now. Why should the calendar dictate when I can reevaluate my life? Why should I think about making changes now, instead of in April or August? Why do we wait until the fridge is full of yummy-but-bad-for-you leftovers to diet? Why do we wait until January 1st to decide that we should stop procrastinating?
I’m typing this in my bathrobe. At 11:30 am. I haven’t had breakfast, and of course I haven’t showered yet. I have, though, had a number of cookies in lieu of an actual meal. I’ve organized nothing today, and I haven’t even started on the work project I should have completed by now. Yes, I’m a slug…but I’m not one of those slugs who makes resolutions that he doesn’t keep.
It’s not that I’ve never made resolutions. I just don’t do it at the beginning of a new year. A while back, I asked myself an important question:
What two things would you like to change?
I made the same two resolutions for 5 years. The first is obvious to anyone who knows me: to lose some weight. I’m not morbidly obese, but I am approaching maximum density. I’d like to be healthier…so that’s an ongoing battle. The second has been off my list for several years now: to have a gentle answer. I used to be hurtfully sarcastic, and wanted to stop. I believe that I’ve conquered that beast…but it took 5 years to feel like it was completely behind me.
I haven’t lost the weight, so that’s still on the list. I’ve been working more on it recently, and expect the scale to breathe a sigh of relief pretty soon. I haven’t replaced ‘a gentle answer’ yet…but I will. I just have to take the time to ask myself that question again.
Maybe I’ll do it tomorrow.
