A New Chapter...
Hillsong Music has always been an expression from the heart and soul of this House. The songs that have come from this church and been sung all over the world are a testimony to God’s grace in our church and over the lives of our creative team, that pour so much of themselves into each and every project. Over a number of years we have had the privilege of working with some amazing people, and this year marks a new chapter in the Hillsong Music journey. This morning, Billboard Music Charts released this article:
EMI Christian To Represent Hillsong Masters, Publishing
April 08, 2010
By Edward Christman, N.Y.
EMI Christian Music Group has entered into a multi-faceted deal to represent the master rights and music publishing of Hillsong Music, an arm of Hillsong Church, a growing evangelical ministry based in Sydney, Australia. The deal covers North America and Latin America.
Hillsong Music has sold over 11 million albums to date, according to an EMI press release announcing the deal.
The EMI CMG deal includes licensing and marketing Hillsong Music masters, effective immediately, as well as administering and promoting that company's music publishing song catalog, beginning Oct. 1, 2010.
For master rights, EMI CMG Label Group and its Sparrow Records label will be marketing Hillsong Music annual releases, including the company's big sellers, "Hillsong LIVE," "Hillsong UNITED" and "Hillsong Kids," as well as other music and video products from the Hillsong music team. For instance, this fall, EMI CMG will additionally support a Hillsong DVD release, "The I Heart Revolution: We're All In This Together," a social justice documentary presented by Hillsong UNITED, a group of artists that tour and record music.
Hillsong LIVE is an album series built around a live recording from the Hillsong annual conference.
As part of the deal, EMI CMG will support Hillsong live events across the U.S. as both the Hillsong LIVE and UNITED brands will tour this year in support of new albums.
In addition to new product, EMI CMG will be re-introducing all key Hillsong catalog titles into the Christian, mainstream consumer market, and digital retail outlets.
In October, the second stage of the relationship kicks in when EMI CMG Publishing begins representing Hillsong Publishing in the U.S. and Canada.
As part of that component, EMI will administer and promote all new Hillsong music and catalog titles from such Hillsong writers as Joel Houston, Reuben Morgan, Darlene Zschech and Ben Fielding.
Hillsong currently holds the top position--through Reuben Morgan and Ben Fielding's song, "Mighty Save"-- in the top 500 songs of Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI), a firm that specializes in providing churches with music copyright solutions. Hillsong also has 57 other songs in that company's chart, according to the EMI announcement.
We are a church that is all about God, a God that is all about people. Over the years (and moving forward), the success of Hillsong Music has enabled the church to do what it is called to do – bring hope and solution, by creatively meeting the real needs of humanity. ONE FOR ANOTHER is our commitment to reach out and help people on a practical level, both locally and globally. It is the ‘why’ behind all that we do - it is the social outworking of what might seem to others as simply ‘business ventures’ or album sales. We truly believe that Hillsong Albums are not only meant to resource the church with fresh and contemporary praise and worship; but that the outworking of this is when we turn around and extend what we have to those that need it the most. Since 1989, Hillsong CityCare has been providing community services, collaborating with other humanitarian organisations, bringing practical help to ordinary people facing everyday challenges. Whether it is providing emergency relief through Aid and Development, girls from the local Sisterhood simply visiting the lonely in our community, or I-Heart encouraging people attending UNITED events to bring gifts for their local food banks- we believe in honouring God by loving one another as He loved us.
As the Senior Pastor, I can say with great confidence that I am excited to move forward into this new season and truly believe that there are more songs to write, more people to reach, and many more souls still to be won for Christ.
Just this month, our team has been labouring over the new LIVE album, ‘A Beautiful Exchange’ ready to be released in July, and a new UNITED album is in the works! As long as there are songs to be sung and an anointing to do it, we will continue to write and record music that glorifies Jesus, resources the local church and gives us the opportunity to reach more people with the practical love of our creative God.
Blessings, Brian
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