Info For Bands | thebiblerocks

Hi, I’m Joe Bolf.

If you are reading this you are probably a musician or friend of a musician who is interested in recording the bible sung to music.

Good for you. So many musicians and recording companies are only interested in top forty songs.

Todays Contemporary Christian music is either about personal experience or Jesus. Nothing wrong with that.

However, because of this, bible songs are probably not going to make the top 40. Prove me wrong. PLEASE prove me wrong.

For many years the bible has been recorded with just reading or enhanced with music to make it more dramatic. There have been songs written telling one part of a story but not the whole story.

I believe that what I am doing is brand new. You can be part of it.

Here is what I am offering you.

Lyrics. Like many musicians I didn’t realize that most modern versions of the bible are copyrighted. But it makes sense. Publishers spend money revising, printing and marketing their version. Thank God for them. They have made the bible much easier to understand. They do, however, protect their investment of time and money with a copyright and have strict rules about the use of their material. Also, every publisher has different rules. So be careful how you approach this kind of project.

I spent a couple of months working with a publisher trying to find out how to put the bible to song without violating copyright. It was very confusing for a long time until I finally discovered the magic word “verbatim”. I found that when comparing different modern versions a word or two would be changed or phrases would be reversed. That is so the publishers don’t violate each others copyrights.

A song writer has to be careful to do the same thing.

So here’s the deal. You can work at editing yourself, which I can tell you is very time consuming, or you can use my edited version at no cost. It does not matter to me which you choose to do.

If you choose to use my version I ask three things of you.

First, please ask for permission. When you do I will send you conformation of permission and the lyrics that you request. At no cost to you.

If you create your own melody I would ask that you:

Second, give me credit for the words. I do not expect any payment. Just credit.

Third, If you use my melody you have recorded a cover and I would expect credit and writer royalties. That is only fair.

Once you have your album recorded and on your website I would like to add a link to my The Bible Rocks dot com website. I would need a picture of your album cover, a picture of you or your band, a description of both your album and Band and a URL.

In the coming years I would like to see every music style represented. People have different tastes in music and there will be those who prefer your style over mine; even if the words are the same. In any case, more people will be exposed to God’s Word.

My plan is to advertise the Bible Rocks website in Christian magazines, radio and TV. Plus of course, the internet.

I hope that you will join me in my effort to make the bible both more enjoyable and exciting for all of us.

I hope to hear from you.