Change, change, and more change... We're not done yet!

Writing this is bittersweet. Had you asked me a month ago if this is where things would be I would've balked at the notion. Yet, here we are. A couple weeks ago it was announced that our Editor for CHH JAMZ Magazine was leaving to pursue other passions. Last week J. Jareb announced the indefinite closure of Continue & Don't Stop Jamz, one of our sister radio stations.

Yesterday, CHH JAMZ founder and JAMZ Collective Co-Owner Orlando Page announced he is leaving permanently. I'll be honest, I didn't see this coming but I understand his decision. He is doing what we all must be willing to do if the time comes and circumstances require it. He is departing this adventure to focus wholly and exclusively on his wife and family.

A couple things I want to make clear for anyone wondering:

1.) O & I are good! He is a great friend and I hope I have and will continue to be a great friend to him. This doesn't change anything between him and I except he won't be working on JAMZ Collective stuff anymore.

2.) Even though I'm bummed to see Orlando go, I FULLY SUPPORT and UNDERSTAND his decision. It is one that will create some additional work for me in the short-term BUT will simultaneously give me some more freedom to blitz forward with a new vision I now have for this publication. We are STILL NOT going anywhere but THINGS are going to change in some pretty significant ways.

So what is that Vision?

Glad you asked! This is vision is born out of a combination of circumstances, attrition, practicality, and a desire to be MORE efficient and effective!

Now for the "bad news." The radio station is going away...

Yes, I said it. I know change is hard but we have to acknowledge some things. The first is that people are no longer going to radio as their primary source for music or much of anything else. Does that mean we don't believe in radio or hope it will make a resurgence? Absolutely not! However, God has called us all to be good stewards of what we're put in charge of. Right now, shifting away from radio is the right move to make us more efficient at this moment in time.

One of the drawbacks of the current landscape for online radio is making sure everyone is getting royalties for their music being played. In theory, it should be simple, but let's be honest: The folks who designed and control the music industry have (likely intentionally) made it extremely complex, especially for independent artists, and if all your ducks aren't in a row, you're probably not seeing the full benefit. This ecosystem is geared around people who aren't necessarily even artists getting a piece of the pie.. so to speak.

Our focus will REMAIN on MINISTRY through CHH... BUT if anyone is generating revenue on music being made by folks in our community, we want to ensure as much of that as possible is going back into YOUR ministry. Although it's not ideal, right now playlists are the most consistent method of doing that... for now.

We know streaming services are not fantastic. They're currently the primary source for music sharing though. For the immediate future, we're going to be focusing intently on streamlining our Playlist offerings AND then building up an audience for that, to hopefully support as many independent Christian artists as possible.

While we do that, we'll be exploring ideas for a different music ecosystem that will most effectively support and provide exposure for the art YOU make.

The website is staying and we'll be revamping it to make it more user friendly, more active, more consistent, etc. A lot of it will revolve around the playlists, articles about YOUR music, information about how people can support YOUR ministry, and building COMMUNITY. You might say our end-goal is to build a COLLECTIVE of artists, producers, podcasters, publications, etc. seeking to honor God together with NO internal competition but instead mentorship, discipleship, and collaboration that fosters success for ALL OF US.

This is a KINGDOM movement, which means it will continue to center around honoring God and uplifting His Body. That requires selflessness and a willingness to come along others to advance the efforts of the whole.

We're also going to focus on building our social media presence. We're going to seek to partner with podcasts from our community to feature those broadcasts on our channels and work to build more exposure for EVERYONE!

In the future, we hope to do even more. LIVE CHH events! Sponsorships. Recording resources for people who don't have the means to pay for help. We'll see where God takes us... but FIRST THINGS FIRST.

Going forward we're merging both "brands" back into ONE cohesive and UNIFIED banner. We are...

The JAMZ Collective.

If you are interested in being a part of this vision please reach out to us. If you have a Kingdom music focused show you would like to explore broadcasting from our social media media accounts please reach out to us so we can discuss building together.

Our official e-mail is now thejamzcollective@outlook.com