Being a ‘Mother Hen’ is a tough job. But hey, somebody’s gotta love it.
And Incubator does! We specialize in working with emerging artists — those just starting out or substantially expanding their music ministry. We’ve created an innovative combination of artist management, record label and publishing company to help nurture an artist during the critical development period of their ministry. This integrated approach is unique in the music industry. Most artists are ill-prepared for the harsh realities of public ministry (much less of the music business). They need a caring mentor to direct, assist, train, encourage, and support them in the clarification and realization of their dream. Fledgling ministries need special care and support — and that is exactly what Incubator is designed to provide.
The old Easter Bunny’s got nothing on us. We know where the eggs really come from.
Amid all the commercialization of Christian music, Incubator seeks to help an artist focus on the real source of ministry — the resurrected Christ. It’s easy to lose perspective about the simplicity of God’s ministry plan in the middle of lots of publicity and hype. From the foundational stages forward, Incubator helps an artist through the “soul searching” process to identify how God will use their brokenness to reach others. Rather than focusing entirely on strengths (like talent, personality, etc.) We’ve discovered that God uses our areas of weakness and death to show himself strong through the power of His resurrection. When we help an artist clarify a foundation based upon their failings, we can be assured that they won’t be claiming too much credit for any of the good stuff God brings out of it!
Some ministry building strategies are one egg short of a dozen.
The recording industry is filled with those who preach the gospel of “product” over “person”. One of the major hallmarks of Incubator is its ongoing development work with an artist to build a consistent and healthy public performance ministry — a “people to people” expression of their ministry vision. Incubator is much more than just making a record. It’s about birthing the ministry in the heart of a Christian musician. Our focus is on helping an artist to establish a local ministry that naturally expands to regional activity, and eventually to a nationwide ministry. It’s that old, Jerusalem, Judea, and the uttermost parts of Samaria gig.
Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.
In a rush of undirected enthusiasm, an artist can end up not only testing the waters of experience, but getting soaked in the process. Christian musicians seem to be extremely susceptible to getting sucked into a variety of financial pitfalls in the hopes of launching their music ministry. Incubator’s “smart stewardship” approach helps an artist prove the validity of their ministry in the marketplace before diving in with reckless abandon. Artists learn how to formulate solid foundations first, then construct a specialized vehicle to support their vision.
Forget about crossing the road — cross the church and you’re outta there!
Over ninety percent of an emerging artist’s performances are connected directly to the church marketplace. Yet little in the music industry provides appropriate advice, direction, or support to young ministries in this challenging area. Much of the buzz in the music industry is about finding ways to “engage the church” in the industry’s pre-existing marketing efforts. At Incubator, we help artists discover how they can engage themselves in the pre-existing agenda of the church.
Who’s watching the hen house?
One of the saddest deficits of the contemporary Christian music scene is a sore lack of accountability. Through its unique four-way accountability system, Incubator facilitates an open line of communication between the artist, the church sponsoring a concert, Incubator, and the artist’s home pastor. A fundamental Incubator value is the importance of building and maintaining relationships as a foundation to longevity in ministry. In the church marketplace, one flies or dies on the strength of their relationship skills.
Incubator also provides ‘vision accountability’. Through its symbiotic relationship with an artist, they are challenged to be faithful stewards of the dream God has given them. No more sitting around dreaming about it — an artist linked with Incubator is forced to continually evaluate the effectiveness of their own actions, expenditures, and energies in the fulfillment of their ministry objective.
Hey, breaking out of the shell is only the beginning. That’s when the real work starts.
Incubator audition standards are very tough. We look beyond the creative gift to assess the person behind the calling. In addition to an obvious musical talent, an artist must show good character, commitment, and a solid work ethic. When you candidly look back stage in a music ministry, what you see is a whole lot of hard work. For every hour on stage, an artist must work 10-20 hours in the trenches of daily ministry activities. Incubator continually enforces reality checks — a dynamic process of counting the cost of commitment to Christ’s cause.
Although we’re not exactly McMinistry, we do have some tasty nuggets of truth.
Although Incubator is in no way a franchise, artists derive the same type of benefit from Incubator’s music ministry systems. Through years of research and development, we’ve refined practical ministry and business methodology into proven systems that help keep an artist from re-inventing the wheel. Each part of the Incubator system — from laying the right ministry foundation to choosing the best sound system — is built line upon line, precept upon precept. The entire network of interactive systems provides a smart-stewardship vehicle to support an artist in bringing their unique ministry vision into reality. Our relationship-based management helps artists to be in music ministry for themselves... but not by themselves.
It takes a little more than chicken feed to cover the financial end of a music ministry.
Public ministry is one balancing act after another — not the least of which is your checkbook. Although there’s other important stuff to manage like priorities, family life, and time, an artist must learn to be a good business person in order to succeed. Although Incubator artists are driven by a sincere motivation to serve, they must nonetheless learn the necessary disciplines of operating a small business vehicle to support their vision. All the sincere motivation in the world will eventually succumb to the harsh reality of making sure all the bills are paid. Incubator helps an artist nail down the business basics like budgeting, capitalization, financial policies, inventory, and planning for the future. Realizing that finances and accounting are not typically strong suits for the average artist, we’ve designed systems that are pretty much “musician-proof”. We’ve found that as an artist develops strong disciplines in handling the “unrighteous mammon”, God seems to entrust them with the spiritual “good stuff” (Luke 16).
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Although this short article gives only a brief introduction to the sometimes complex world of Incubator, we trust it helps share some of our heart and values. In every great revival, music always plays a cutting edge role. Incubator is excited to be a part of the current work of Jesus in his last days church. We, together with each of our artists, value and appreciate your prayers in our exciting and challenging work. Together, we all really can realize the vision of “hatching good stuff” for His kingdom.
