To whom it may concern,

Thank you for contacting me concerning your ministry. I pray the Lord finds a place for you and your ministry to advance His kingdom.

Let me take a few moments to address some of my concerns pertaining to the letter and/or demo cd you recently sent me in the mail.

• In today's modern, internet based communications world, please make sure you include an email address for me to contact you or your agent. Why should I bother picking up the phone and charging a long-distance call to my church when you could easily be contacted via email if I am interested?
• If you contacted me last year, and I said I was not interested in your ministry making an appearance at our church, and gave specific reasons as to why I did not think your ministry would "fit" our "format," please don't contact me again the next year and ask if I've changed my mind. It is doubtful you have changed your format, so I'm still not interested.
• Make sure your ministry has a website with mp3s of your demo music available for download. Sometimes, especially when you send one of those little mini-discs instead of a full size CD, I misplace your demo before I can give it a good listen. If I can't listen to your demo, I'm not interested. Spend a little money, and start up a simple web site (even a Wordpress blog) so that I can reach you in yet another way. In fact, save yourself some money and reduce waste by only offering mp3s and forget making demo CDs. It would work, trust me.
• If your demo CD has vocals or instruments that are out of tune, record it again until you get it right. Don't send out a demo with stuff out of tune, it's an instant deal breaker. If you can't get it in tune, maybe music ministry is not your calling.
• Don't send those little mini-discs. I can't stick them in my slot-loading iMac, or the slot-loading CD player in my car. This also means I can't get your music onto my iPod. I use my iPod to seriously absorb music, and am less likely to give your demo real consideration if I can't get it onto the player. (Of course, maybe that's what you're trying to avoid, I don't know.)
• If your demo CD doesn't sound at least as good or better than what I can sit down at my iMac and produce in a few minutes using GarageBand, don't bother sending it to me.
• If you market yourself as a "contemporary" artist, make sure the demo CD you send has stuff on it other than southern gospel and songs that sound like Michael Bolton singing Gaither tunes. If you sing southern gospel, be proud of it!
• Well designed packaging will not make up for a lack of musical ability.
• Endorsements from other ministers are fine, but if you're marketing yourself to the "music" person at a local church, don't you think you should have some quotes from some "music" leaders, and not just pastors? Just a thought.
• Another thought on endorsements. When you credit someone for a quote, and describe them as "pastor of such-and-such church," or "producer/director of such-and-such group," make sure you have your facts straight. Don't credit someone for something they had no part of other than being in the room.
• If your letter to me says you're going to contact me, actually contact me. You said you would.

Again, thank you for sending your information to me. I hope that you find your place of ministry, unfortunately, that place is not here. I also hope that you take my concerns to heart and use them to take your ministry to the next level. Thank you.

PS: Don't worry about the waste of sending out hundreds of CDs. We believe in recycling, and will use your CD either as a coaster, an arts and crafts item for our KidzClub, or as a VBS decoration.

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