Free Chapel Music

What we see

Free Chapel Music doesn't have a talent problem. It has a system problem.

Every release in FCM's history has landed inside a Forward window. Three singles and an album in June 2021, one single in June 2022, then nothing for nearly four years, until The Well on 26 June 2026. That one released during Forward itself, off a two-week turnaround.

What happened when they did release is the part worth noticing. The Well has done 115,915 streams worldwide in its first six weeks, on a two-week turnaround with no release plan, no pitching and no editorial support. It held level for three weeks before it started to decay, which is not what a launch spike does. People were finding it, and nothing was built to catch them.

The platform underneath it keeps growing. Seven campuses plus Online, with Destin planned, and Forward fills an arena every June.

Where the music sits today

That distance between Free Chapel's reach and the music's reach is a huge opportunity. Closing it doesn't take more resources. It takes a strategy and a system.

What you've already decided

From our conversations so far, FCM has settled a number of the questions churches frequently get stuck on:

• Equal writer splits, rather than negotiating contribution percentages song by song
• Free Chapel owns the copyrights; writers participate through a revenue split
• Self-published, with 50/50 co-publishing
• Song-by-song agreements, papered by Matt Anthony, with a first-offer mechanism if a writer is approached elsewhere
• Tracy's direction to sign an administration deal and a distribution deal

Those are good decisions, and fair ones. What's missing isn't the philosophy. It's the machinery underneath it.

The immediate opportunity

Collections

The compositions aren't registered anywhere that pays: no PRO registrations, no mechanical collection, no SoundExchange, no CCLI. Holding CCLI until the structure is set was the right call, because it backdates roughly two years, so nothing has been lost. But the clock only helps if the structure actually gets built.

Underneath that sits the recurring work: quarterly split statements, writer payments, registrations, credits. Real, repeating, and the wrong job for whoever is also running A&R, marketing and release.

Relationships

FCM has never had a conversation with a DSP. The Well went out through algorithmic pitching alone and holds no editorial playlist placements. In the industry data layer, FCM's primary genre is currently classified as German worship. A small thing, and a sign of how little hand the catalogue has had on it.

Architecture

Free Chapel Music, Free Chapel Worship, Free Chapel Youth. The trifecta is a good instinct, but right now there's no definition of what each is for, who belongs to which, or who approves what. Worship leaders across campuses are starting to raise their hands, and there's no structure for them to be raised into.

Rhythm

Songs exist in draft with no production lane to finish them. Content is captured reactively. Camps are an intention, not a calendar. Every release becomes a scramble because nothing sits between the conferences.

The first 90 days

• Appoint a copyright administrator. We shortlist, negotiate and stand up an administrator who registers every composition and collects at all PROs and collection societies, and who issues the quarterly writer statements. This is the answer to the administrative burden: a vendor doing it properly, paid directly by Free Chapel, rather than Aaron doing it by hand or Good doing it by the hour.
• Register the catalogue in one pass once the structure is set: PROs, mechanical, SoundExchange and CCLI, correctly attributed the first time.
• Review the existing agreements for gaps, not to redo them. Specifically: what happens on an outside co-write, whether song-by-song should become blanket at some threshold, and how the first-offer mechanism is documented. Matt Anthony continues to paper it; we identify what needs papering.
• Negotiate the distribution deal Tracy has already pointed at, on terms that still work at three times the current volume.
• Build the release calendar and asset spec. Twelve months, with the real decision points marked and what has to exist by when, so a two-week turnaround is never the process again.
• Map the team. What comes off Aaron's plate first, who inside Free Chapel picks it up, and what, if anything, needs to be hired.

It lands as one operating document: structure, agreements, distribution, calendar and team, in a form Tracy and Jentezen can govern from.

Who you'd be working with

Good Management currently works with Hillsong United and Joel Houston, Aodhan King, Ben Tan and Woodlands Worship.

Three levels of engagement

All month to month. No minimum, no fixed term.

On pitching: getting FCM's music in front of the people who make these decisions is work Good does on every release, properly and on time. No placement, playlist add, radio add or booking can be guaranteed by anyone, and any proposal that implies otherwise should be treated with suspicion. Producers, writers and engineers are engaged for projects in the ordinary way, and that part we can plan.

What we'd hold ourselves to

Streams, placements and chart positions aren't promises anyone can honestly make. These are the outputs we'd be accountable for in the first year:

• An administrator and a distributor appointed, contracted and operating
• Every composition registered and collecting
• Writer statements issued quarterly without Aaron assembling them
• An approved twelve-month release calendar, and releases hitting it
• A defined roster, and a written schedule for what content gets made and posted around each release
• A first writing camp planned and run, built around FCM's own writers, with outside writers and producers brought in at the top level
• Every release submitted to DSPs, radio and church resource partners on schedule
• A quarterly review against all of the above

Terms

The fee

A flat monthly retainer for the selected level. No commission, no override, no participation, and no share of any revenue.

Term

Month to month from the first of the month following signature. No minimum, no fixed term. Either side can end it on 30 days' notice, with no termination fee.

Changing level

Up or down by agreement, effective the first of the following month.

Ownership

Good acquires no interest in Free Chapel's masters, compositions or copyrights. Nothing in this engagement changes who owns anything.

Royalties

Collected by the administrator into Free Chapel's account. Writers receive statements and payments quarterly on a published schedule.

Third-party costs

Legal, administration, distribution, advertising, production, pluggers and promoters are contracted and paid by Free Chapel directly. Good never fronts costs and takes no margin on them. Travel is at cost.

Approvals

Any spend Good recommends is approved by Free Chapel before it is committed, and single expenses over $500 in writing. Good has no authority to sign, commit or contract on Free Chapel's behalf.

What sits where

Good advises, directs and builds the systems. Free Chapel's team and the appointed administrator run them. This engagement is not day-to-day management; if FCM needs someone carrying the daily load, that is an internal appointment, and helping define and recruit it is part of the first 90 days.

Separately quoted

Writing camps at the first two levels, and any one-off project outside the selected level.

Reporting

A quarterly review covering what was delivered, what it cost, what came in, and whether the level still fits. Either side can raise a mismatch between what's delivered and what's being paid for, and it gets corrected there.

Relationship

Independent contractor. Good is not an employee or agent of Free Chapel. Confidentiality is mutual, and neither party names the other publicly without consent.

Status

This proposal is non-binding. A short definitive agreement would follow.