Bob Kauflin says, “Christian’s have a higher standard than ‘Everybody’s doing it.’� I agree with his statement. But I’d like to flip the statement back to Bob and to the rest of the Christian recording industry (and as much as we would like to believe that Christian recording is ministry, it is an industry as well). Do Christian recording companies and artists have a higher standard than, “The secular music industry is doing it,� as well? That is, do they have any way of making their price structures that separates itself from the world so that it DOES take into account the Kingdom of God and the advance of the Gospel?

My walls are lined with Christian CDs that I have BOUGHT in the past. I probably have spent thousands in my life on Christian music. But I barely listen to any of them. Usually, I bought a CD just because I wanted to sing one sing in worship. So the rest of the songs are merely add-ons. What if Christian music then thought of selling singles rather than whole CDs? Couldn’t there have been ways to think of distributing and selling music to meet the need of the church and pay the musicians and all of the distributors? I am afraid there was an “everybody’s doing it� mentality then as well.

Now the argument goes, “You can buy a song for only a $1.00.� And I do buy songs for a dollar. But not everyone can afford a dollar song. There is a huge presumption on wealthy Christians that a dollar is nothing. But if a person should not be able to afford a dollar, than sorry friend, you can’t praise God and listen to songs of praise.

That’s why I appreciate John Piper and Desiring God Ministries so much. Their pay what you can afford policy and now their free sermons and videos online exhibit boldly to the church and the world that they are in the forefront of making the Gospel available to all. But they are really following in the footsteps of someone like Keith Green who had the same policy on his music in the 70s. Imagine if all of the hymns had copyrights? We would be broke as we sung, “Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine.� Fanny Crosby’s children would be millionaires, driving around in Ferraris. Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley’s children would be living in mansions. There are better ways, but the Christian recording industry, instead of just telling the Christian consumer to have a higher standard, needs to heed their own exhortations. This is not about Bob Kauflin. I know Sovereign Grace also gives many of their listeners’ free music. But this is about the whole of Christian music.

The better way is what Redeemer does with Tim Keller’s study guides. I bought 80 copies of a PDF online for the rights to make copies in my church. This allowed me to pay him and Redeemer’s mission (which is important, a worker is due his wages), allowed me to make copies (advance the Kingdom), and allowed me to actually do it within cost restraints (taking into account that we have a limited budget on such things). There needs to be some way to make multiple copies of songs for ministry and missions purposes, even if that meant a subscription that was reasonably priced. And then a pay what you can afford policy would be in the spirit of being a Christian rather than doing what everyone else is doing, what the world is doing.

My hope is that both Christian musician and Christian music lover will stand above the world and rather than reacting after the world does, take a proactive stance before the world does.