What is Kingdom Tunes?

Kingdom Tunes is a group of Christian (Bible Believing Christ Following) Servant/Artists who have set aside a portion or all of their musical talents and recordings to be given and distributed freely to all who will have it. Kingdom Tunes is not a record label or a distributor of any sort. It is simply a place where Servant/Artists can freely give what was freely given to them, and thus making Kingdom Tunes also a place where anyone can access the music and art of those in the Servant/Artist group, and hopefully be inspired and blessed by the service.

References

I Cor 1:10 "I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment."

PS 33:3 "Sing to him a new song;play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts."

Mat 10:8 "...Freely you have received, freely give."

What is a Servant Artist?

This is from a blog post that depicts what a "Servant Artist" is and hopefully this will show why we use this term a lot.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be a "Servant Artists". When you take those two words and put them together it's almost an oxymoron. Yet I feel like this is something that God is wrenching in my heart. Here what I mean...

“Servant”. Servants are concerned with one thing, their master. Everything the servant says and does is in service. That is, they do not think about how something will affect them, or to what loss it would be for them to serve. A servant's actions point to and honor those they serve. They are not concerned with fame or fortune, because that is not the fuel behind their deeds. They are driven by a heart of humility, debt, and gratefulness. They don't treat others as beneath them, but rather they lift them up. Self promotion is not in their vocabulary. They serve with confidence, not in their own gifts to serve but in the freedom of service they have been given.

"Artist". In a commercial sense, artists strive to be noticed. They must be noticed to survive. Being seen and heard is what makes them important. Humility is just another label that is used for promotion. In this sense artists must always be selling themselves. This is what I would consider as a common perspective of an artist in today's culture.

In a more generic sense, artists create to bring attraction to and inspire thought on the subject of their art. This is the definition of "artist" that I would like to marry to the word "servant".

So what is a "Servant Artist"? What does their art look like?

A servant artists are artists whose art is created in such a way that it points to and honors the one it was created for. Their desire to create is not driven by attention or wealth, but rather it is moved by a humble, indebted, and grateful heart. They want the spotlight to be moved to the one they serve, the subject of their art. Their art points attention to the beauty of the subject. Their hope is to be a highlighter for the beauty of their master (the salt on the table, not the centerpiece).

The best example of this is seen the life of Christ. He humbled himself for our sake. He turned down earthly riches and power for our eternal hope. He came to serve not to be served. Always pointing to the Father in word and with demonstration through creativity and humility. He is exalted of God, not of himself. That is the image of a true servant artist.

God, give us the grace to follow your lead and live as servant artists; using artistic expression to bring your beauty and splendor to the forefront.

-Dan from www.morerain.com

Who Can Be in This Group of Servant Artists

Initially the group will be small and picked from a few artists who have displayed a desire to give their art away in this manner. The hope is that the group will grow and become a self sustaining body, that can vote on new artist submissions and discern through the artists.

Let it also be said that just because it is free does not mean that we have a lower standard of artistry. On the contrary, the desire is for higher standards of artistry; always pushing things to more creative and expressive levels. We serve an awesome God and he deserves creative and excellent worship.

Licensing

There are degrees of licensing that are used for Kingdom Tunes' music. Most of which is under a Creative Commons agreement between the listener/downloader and the artist/band. Some music will also be posted under Public Domain - which is just a way of saying there are no rights reserved to the music or songs.