You may have seen that we launched a new way to listen to music. We call it simply . . . Faith Music. This is going to be big. We are one of the first ministries, let alone companies, to launch a curated, niche streaming app. Instead of partnering as a label with a secular streaming platform, we opted to build one of our own with just FMM music on it. This allows us to control the music, content and experience. You won’t have to search and take a guess about what you’re about to hear as you would on the other services; you’ll know. We’re excited to share why we decided to utilize streaming, why we approached it the way we did and what the future holds.

Faith Music Missions has been there and back. Our beginnings were with vinyl records and 8-track tapes, moving to cassettes and seeing them die off in favor of CDs. We introduced digital downloads several years ago as a way to get our music to you quicker and without the packaging that often goes in the waste basket. Nothing much in our music delivery has changed since then, except our new plastic-free CD wallets. 

We thought about what is next for a long time. CD players have begun to disappear from vehicles and homes, and streaming has risen to become the most popular music delivery method over this previous decade. We’ve considered building an app since 2014 and decided in 2019 to go ahead and take the plunge to set us up for the next decade. 

Everyone enjoys the convenience of taking out their phones and finding what they need within moments. CDs are not convenient when you’re on the go, and loading music from a computer to a phone can be cumbersome. Streaming gives you access to your music when and where you want it. Faith Music Missions has a robust catalog that we think is excellent, and we want you to be able to listen to all of it on your schedule and at your convenience.

Since 1979, Faith Music Missions has worked hard to produce music that honors and magnifies the name of Christ. We produce music in a style that allows us to worship God without the distractions that contemporary or rock music bring to the listening experience. 

As we pondered “what’s next,” we considered simply uploading our music to established secular streaming services to provide music to our listeners. There were several concerns, but one of the major red flags was the notion that our music would be mixed in with the all the other content out there. While we can tell the difference, others may not know what is Faith Music Missions content and what is not. 

 Our new streaming app implements a “walled garden” strategy. When you see an album on the Faith Music app, you can trust that we have reviewed the album to make sure it is in line with our standards. You can feel safe with this app in the hands of every member of your family without concerns about whether someone will stumble onto objectionable content.

It’s simple. For a majority of the population, streaming is the best way to listen to music. There’s no need to sacrifice your album selection because of budget, and the listening quality is on par with physical CDs. However, change can be difficult. How much would it cost to make the move? What about all the other options available? Would anybody be interested? These are all great questions, and here are our thoughts: 

The other players are giants and represent a gargantuan effort to get their apps and platforms to work as well as they do. However, they cater to worldly record labels with international artists and worldwide listeners. It’s the everything-including-the-kitchen-sink approach. We knew early on that most people on Spotify would not be interested in listening to our music there. They use that app for different reasons. 

Secondly, if we were to make the switch to streaming at some point, these large streaming platforms could not support a ministry like ours. Fun fact: 2019 is the first year that Spotify made any money. The money it pays to artists is a very small percentage of the monthly revenue they collect. In short, we would be handing over our music to Spotify and Apple Music, and people would ultimately struggle to find it. Seemed kind of dumb, but we knew we needed to do something. 

 The idea for a mega platform for all artists had already been done. But what hadn’t been accomplished was the introduction of a niche genre-specific streaming platform that allows for a ministry or company to offer a collection of their unique content to its members. We knew that people trusted Faith Music Missions to partner with churches and artists to record conservative gospel music. The crowd we serve is not huge, but it represents a community very important to our ministry. 

We would love to offer you a free month of service on our brand new streaming app. Take it for a spin :-)