So you have a process to evaluate songs, now where do you find<\/em> them?<\/p>\n You can drive in your car or sit around listening to Christian radio all day and perhaps find some good ones (but remember that not all Christian songs are worship songs.) but that\u2019s awfully time-consuming and not a very efficient way to operate<\/strong>. There must be a better way!<\/p>\n Oh, but there is! Granted, there are lots of different places out there to look, but these are the ones that I frequent the most to find good ones.<\/p>\n In no particular order: WorshipTogether<\/a> is a major label in worship music. They\u2019re the primary labels for names like Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Tim Hughes, Gungor, Tenth Avenue North and and others in the Passion<\/a> movement. Along with those big names, they also have catalogs of other popular worship music artists.<\/p>\n Helpful Features:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you\u2019re not using Planning Center Online<\/a> (PCO for short) to plan your worship, I highly suggest that you consider it. Besides being so easy to use and being packed with great features, it makes scheduling your team and distributing music a breeze. Helpful Features:<\/strong><\/p>\n The Worship Community<\/a> was started a few years ago by Fred McKinnon and Russ Hutto and it has grown tremendously over the years. People who aren\u2019t all caught up in the blog world (know as the blogosphere) might not be familiar with the term Blog Carnival. While there are no clowns or corn dogs involved, it is a place where different bloggers come together to share information or posts around a topic. Here, the topic is everyone\u2019s Sunday setlist<\/a> \u2013 or the songs they played that day. Each week there are anywhere from 30-50 people who share their setlists, reviews of their services and what God is doing in their churches.<\/p>\n Helpful Features:<\/strong><\/p>\n Watch Out For:<\/strong><\/p>\n Whilst Musicademy’s sister company Worship Backing Band has generally focused on CCLI Top 100, it does have a few more unusual songs in it’s portfolio. You can listen to a 30 second sample and if all you want is a backing track (i.e. not the functionality of the MultiTracks), you can select the lower price “Split Tracks<\/a>” which will give you onscreen words and split track vocals all playable via iTunes, Real Player or similar .<\/p>\n There are lots of other places to look for new songs including subscription services, band sites \u2013 even CCLI<\/a> has some helpful tools for finding new music. Wherever you look, remember to properly evaluate your music before you use it. And then reevaluate it. And check it again later, and\u2026 you get the idea.<\/p>\n Where do you find your new worship music? Share your thoughts below!<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Matthew Sterner is a new guest blogger for Musicademy. He blogs at Beyond the Noise: Thoughts on Life and Worship<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Other posts you might like:<\/strong><\/p>\n How to introduce a new song<\/a><\/p>\n Practical ideas on chord charts and notation<\/a><\/p>\n Harmonizing with the sermon<\/a> \u2013 set list choices<\/span><\/p>\n The Ultimate Worship Resource Guide<\/p>\n Getting out of song selection ruts<\/a><\/p>\n Is it just me or are a lot of worship songs mediocre?<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/matthewstarner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/WorshipTogether_new.jpg\" "\\"WorshipTogether_new\\"")
<\/p>\nWorshipTogether.com<\/h2>\n
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![\"\"](\"http:\/\/matthewstarner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/planning-center-300x90.jpg\" "\\"planning-center\\"")
<\/h2>\nPlanning Center Online\u2019s Community Songs<\/h2>\n
They also have a Community section where they post popular songs from the previous months<\/del>. These are songs that other PCO-using churches are singing \u2013 and there are a LOT of churches using PCO. [EDIT: Seriously, two days after I posted this Planning Center changed their site and dropped the old Community Songs page! They did, however, keep the top 30 songs from each week and added it to your Songs<\/strong> tab.]<\/p>\n\n
Again, the ability to search by theme or topic is huge<\/strong>. They don\u2019t have the ability to search by scripture yet, which I think is a much-needed feature.<\/del> They removed the ability to search for songs, but they added the ability to see what songs were the most popular for each past week AND which ones are popular for upcoming<\/strong> weeks. This is HUGELY helpful around holidays or special times of the year.<\/strong><\/li>\n I find it useful to skim the first page of songs (songs 1-50) and see if there are any that should be in our rotation. Skimming deeper in the list can reveal songs that are up-and-coming, that haven\u2019t been discovered by a larger population yet.<\/del><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/matthewstarner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/twc_logo_gfx.gif\" "\\"twc_logo_gfx\\""){kind=logo}
<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Worship Community\u2019s Sunday Setlists<\/h2>\n
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![\"Worship](\"https:\/\/drc0fhsrp02et.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/08122746\/WBBLOGO.jpg\")
<\/a><\/h2>\nWorship Backing Band<\/h2>\n