I just did the math and found that we receive $0.002/play from streaming services like Spotify. In order for us to earn $1 from streaming services, you would have to listen to one of our songs 500 times. 5,000 plays = $10.00.

In other words, you could listen to our new album 500 times through before we would get paid a fair market value for our time and investment into creating music for the public to consume.

If those 5,000 plays were actually fairly purchased downloads, the earnings would look something more like $3,505 after distributor and publisher fees.

We were not forced to put our music on Spotify. We chose to do it. Why? Because we are indies. Because no one’s in the music store anymore – the physical or digital marketplace – compensating the artists who put their time, talent, emotions, spirit, tears, pain, joy, and life into the songs that make up the soundtrack of your life.

Because if we as artists don’t go to where the listeners are, no one will hear our music. And if no one is around to hear our music, what’s the point of making any noise at all? If no one is going to compensate the songwriter for their time and talent, there won’t be any songwriters left.

You may think that artists write music for themselves. This is true…and false. A songwriter writes songs because it’s impossible for them not to – it’s part of living and breathing. But the point of writing songs is so that they would be heard, shared, sung, and felt. That they would become anthems to others’ lives. So that they would add to the narrative in the bigger story of us. To translate our emotions and thoughts into a new and special language. To give life to our dreams, hopes, and desires we all have.

The war going on between streaming services and artists, at it’s core, is not about the numbers – it’s about the culture that these services are enabling and perpetuating – a culture of entitlement.

A culture that expects something for nothing. A culture that separates the art from the artist. A feeding frenzy of consumers that have devalued not only the art but also the artist.

Indie artists use these services because they don’t know how else to be heard.

We can talk about streaming services and Taylor Swift all you want but you are missing the bigger point – the smaller guy. The guy who doesn’t have a list of #1 hits but who is trying desperately to do what he loves for a living: write great music and, in turn, pay his mortgage and feed his family.

I ask you simply to RESPECT the artists and the art you love by purchasing their music at a fair market value.

The next time you drop $5 on that pint of beer when you are out with your friends, think about the 5 artists whose songs you just streamed in your car on the way to the bar and maybe consider putting your money where it really matters.

- Dan Smith

You can download the first single from the album, “On Your Side”, for FREE for the next 2 weeks until the full album is available everywhere.

As well, our CD RELEASE CONCERT is being held at the St James Parish of Reading City Church on Friday night September 12th at 6:30pm. The concert is open to the public so please come on out! Below is a google map of the location which is 7th and Penn Ave in West Reading, PA. Parking is available on the street or one block away at the VF Outlets parking lot.

It’s been 3 years since our last record, The Revive Project, and the time has finally arrived to get back in the studio for our next album. The theme for this album continues on in the path of The Revive Project in that we will continue to support and stand behind non-profits in the city of Reading, PA. We will continue to use the opportunities we receive to perform and lead worship to also share about Reading and her many struggles, shedding light on the darkness and pointing resources where they are needed. Ultimately we desire for this album to inspire action and transform lives, neighborhoods, and cities.

This album will focus on what is naturally the next progression in the conversation about revival and resurrection – hope through trusting in a faithful God. The process of restoration is messy and difficult and takes commitment and time. But true life comes out of our ability to hope in a God who never fails. For now, the project is tentatively titled Faithful but could change as we continue to develop and complete the songs.

We are so excited to be working again with our friend, producer, and songwriter, Stephen Gause, at his studio in Nashville, TN (produced The Revive Project).

We are also collaborating on songwriting and arranging this time around with two of our favorite people, not only great friends but incredibly gifted musicians and songwriters, Ben Smither (keys and vocals) and Tyler Laspopoulos (electric guitar and vocals).

As you probably have guessed, producing a rock solid professional album takes a lot of time and money. We are hoping to raise $12,000 to cover most of the cost of production but if we can go above and beyond that to help with duplication, promotion, and cinematography costs, we would be so excited. Ideally we would love to hit the $15,000 mark. Any extra money we raise will go towards making the record even better.

Lauren and I personally invested a lot of our own money into making The Revive Project album in 2011 but we are no longer in the financial position to make that investment this time around (diapers, formula, raising kids, you know – that stuff).

We are so thrilled to finally be working on a follow-up record to The Revive Project! We are truly and deeply thankful for all of you who have supported our music over the years.

We are tentatively scheduled to be in the studio in June with a final release hopefully sometime in September .

With your help we can make this project happen!

Thanks so much for your continued support!

Dan & Lauren

(Major thank you to Jonathan Tirrell of Deep Focus Pictures in Lancaster, PA for the amazing work he did on this video. Thank you, Jonathan! http://deepfocuspictures.com/)

And to be brief the answer is “Great!”

It really was a fun experience – albeit with a couple rough moments – we had a great time and were honored to have the band with us that we had. We only briefly got to interact with the man himself, but he was very kind and genuine and still puts on an incredible show considering how long he’s been around. We all got to meet him after he finished sound-checking and politely shook all our hands with a smile and said “Hey! My name’s Mike. Looking forward to hearing y’all!” He asked if we were the house band for the church in York and I told him briefly where we were from before he had to head back to his bus – presumably to finish watching the football game that caused him to be late to soundcheck to begin with. His band was also phenomenal and really nice – they all apologized for being so late with sound check.

All was good though, we managed to fit in probably the shortest setup and sound check in history. We were all using in-ear monitors and had to get our individual in-ear mixes done in about 5 minutes so it was a bit rough but we got the job done which was good enough. Problem was, as soon as we stepped on stage to start our set – something must have changed on the board because for the entirety of our set, the only thing I could hear in my ears was Electric Guitar. What made it worse was that we were playing to a click track – can you say sloppy? So, to me, it sounded terrible. I had the worst time hearing anything and was at first upset before I decided it was an opportunity to put my faith in action and trust God that it sounded great to the audience.

Sure enough, after finishing our set to a standing ovation and hitting our merch table, we were overwhelmed by all the positive response. It was such an honor and privilege to be a part of the evening and we can’t think CMI and WJTL enough for the opportunity.

Our friend David O’Donohue captured the event for us an set it to our song Beauty in the Broken. We hope you all enjoy the highlight reel!

There are two questions we are asked ALL THE TIME:

1. How are things going with the Revive Project?

2. When are you coming out with your next album?

In all of our travels over the last year we’ve run into these 2 questions the most and I deduce that the answer people are really after is simply this: What’s next?

Let me answer each of these questions as concisely as possible and in the process, hopefully unpack the bigger question.

1. How are things going with the Revive Project?
A lot of the time this question is also asked in conjunction with “Does it feel like what you’re doing is actually making a difference?”

In short, what we set out to accomplish with The Revive Project was three-fold – 1.) Give God the glory with our music and our talents, 2.) Use the opportunities we were given to lead worship for communities around our region to share about The Revive Project and to shed light on Reading’s many issues, 3.) Give proceeds from the album back to city non-profits or events that would in turn benefit those in need and to further the reach of The Revive Project message.

Because God is good, we have been able to accomplish and pursue all of these things, and that’s something worth being excited about! The fog and ignorance our region has had to Reading’s issues is starting to fade and there is a growing movement of individuals, churches, and organizations desiring to take part in the revival and restoration of Reading. We have been able to support events financially as well as donate to local organizations working to serve those in need in the city. Our single, “Awaken (Let the Whole World Sing)”, has been promoted and played on radio stations around the country and we’ve had numerous opportunities for live interviews and performances on air to share about Reading and The Revive Project. Our next single, “Everywhere”, is now in the process of getting that same exposure.

Does it feel sometimes that the problem is so big that it can’t be solved? Yes. Absolutely. It felt like that when we set out to do this in the beginning. It was NEVER our goal to be the answer – but to simply take part in God’s story of restoration in the place and time we were called. All we can continue to do is remain faithful to God’s calling by fulfilling the roles He’s called us into.

2. When are you releasing your next album?
Based on history, we should be releasing an album this year. We have released an album every two years since 2003, however, this will be the first time in 10 years that this will not be the case. To be completely transparent – we simply don’t know when we will release another album.

One thing a lot of people are surprised to find out is the financial capital it takes to write, record, produce, release, duplicate, and promote an album on a professional level. Most independent musicians can expect a professionally produced album to require an investment of somewhere between $20,000-$30,000 and that’s not including the costs of duplication, promotion, touring, etc. that go along with the release of an album. That’s a lot of money and you have to be relatively certain you’re going to sell 2,000-4,000 copies of your album pretty quickly after it’s release in order to make your money back and stay on your feet.

I bring this to light because the Revive Project was a non-profit album project. It wasn’t about the money but it still cost money to make it. Thanks to the generosity of a number of friends, family, and fans, we raised almost 40% of the album’s production cost through Kickstarter. Since we released it, the proceeds have gone back into the city and promoting the project. This is what God told us to do with the project and this is what we have done in obedience and will continue to do.

One of the main reasons we just don’t know when we’ll release another album is simply because we don’t have the financial resources to do so and we don’t know if or when we will again.

Another reason, and probably more importantly, is that we hear God’s voice telling us right now to wait and be patient. I am doing an incredible amount of songwriting right now – maybe more than I’ve ever done. Song ideas and possibilities are flowing for another project more than they ever have. There are incredible opportunities in front of us to work on a new project with some leading professionals in the industry. These connections could help to take our ministry and voice to a much larger and widespread level. It seems God is behind us, but we just don’t know His timeline – and that’s okay.

From our discussions with professionals in the industry, we have learned that every independent musician is in the same financial boat. Independent musicians, these days, receive financial backing to produce their music from private parties – whether it be individuals whom God has blessed with financial wealth to support their musical careers or churches and organizations doing that kind of support and partnership. We simply don’t have these kind of partnerships available to us at this time.

So as we sit and look to the future, we see a tremendous amount of opportunity. We don’t want finances to be the reason that we stop recording and producing music that God is using to speak truth into people’s lives. Instead of staring into the eyes of a giant and giving up without a fight, we want to be like David, and believe that victory is possible with God’s help. We have seen too many talented musicians give up on their gifts and dreams because of finances and we don’t want that story to be our own.

We simply ask for you to pray with us – that God would provide the resources necessary to continue on the path He is laying out for us, that we would be good stewards of what He blesses us with, and that we would be faithful to His call as He has never left our side.

If you’d like to talk to us about the future of our music, please don’t hesitate to email me at dan@thesmithfactory.com or if you’d like to book us for a gig, head over to our booking page.

As always, we can’t thank you all enough for the amazing support all of you are and have been to our music and our ministry. We love you and we hope to continue creating delicious melodies for your ears to enjoy!