The only thing keeping us from making the move at this point is the financial buffer we will need for the higher cost of living in Brooklyn—primarily the first few month’s rent. I’m working as hard as possible to gather the funds needed. God is providing graciously for our needs and I expect that the money will be in place in mid-October.

We’ll be joining Williamsburg Church. Over the last few years, the people there have been among the most kind and loyal friends I’ve had. Nothing makes me more excited than the prospect of throwing ourselves completely behind what is happening in the ministry there.

In the meantime I’m headed to Albania, Kosovo, and Montenegro next Tuesday with Tim Keesee and Pete Hansen. We’ll be shooting a documentary film primarily about the mission work of David and Kristi Hosaflook. In the past couple months, friends and family have graciously provided the funding for the trip. In the end, I will only be spending a couple hundred dollars of my personal funds. The Lord has been kind to move in the hearts of others to give to this venture. I’ll certainly update you all upon our return.

Oh, and there’s a rumor floating around that I’ll be starting an amateur photo blog named after a Paul Simon song. This is true. Can you guess which song title?

Last night, the very first audiobook went up on NoiseTrade.

Free music has been proliferating around the Internet for years now. And of course free written content has been part and parcel to the Web from the beginning. But to my knowledge this may be the first time spoken audio content has been given away through a viral “tell your friends” promotion. (And through an embeddable widget at that.)

We have talked about the possibility of distributing forms of content other than music through NoiseTrade—but this is the first time it has really happened.

Ultimately, NoiseTrade is not just about music. Its about content creators in all disciplines being able to connect with their “tribe” and enabling that growing following to continue to spread the ideas of the tribe to others as simply as possible.

Hopefully more books will be available on the site soon. Along with interviews, comedy, essays, and even sermons. If all goes well, it will not be too long before we enable the widget building process to include the ability to upload movies and PDF content.

This is precisely the sort of thing that Seth Godin spoke of in this interview.

Some quick current listens: John Coltrane (Blue Train), Waterdeep (Pink and Blue), John Legend, Ryan Adams (Cardinology), Samamidon (All Is Well), David Mead (Almost and Always).

After lunch we went over to the home of Kevin and Wendy Twit to interview them about the their experiences in adopting their daughter from China. It was a greatly encouraging time for me, hearing how God works uniquely in each family situation to lead them toward His will. We then joined them for an ice cream party at a park in Brentwood with other Nashville families who have Chinese children. All girls! I had no idea that almost all Chinese adoptions are little girls. Almost no boys available internationally for adoption. I think Dan said that at the orphanage he’d seen in China, there were only four boys and several hundred girls there.

From there, we headed to Grimey’s, a record store above The Basement, a well-known music venue. For dinner, we met up with Jordan Hamlin and Maggie Bolger for Mediterranean food, then went with them to Matthew Perryman Jones’ release show at Exit/In. Amazing show. I overheard a member of the band the next day say that it was probably his best ever. The highlight of the evening was hearing he and his wife cover “The Pearl” by Emmylou Harris. Meghan came up on stage a few lines into the song to support him with background vocals. Stunning.

On Sunday, we attended Midtown Fellowship, then interviewed Randall Goodgame about his upcoming Ethiopian adoption. About 2pm or so, we hit the road back to Greenville. A rewarding and enjoyable weekend of work and learning.

On Saturday afternoon, we’ll interview Kevin Twit and Matt Odmark in Nashville (both of whom have adopted transracially), then head back to Greenville on Sunday. I hope this project draws attention to the orphan crisis, especially in the Third World and will in some way encourage couples to consider adopting children themselves.

We discussed all sorts of ideas that day, from the changes in packaging formats, to live concert albums purchased directly at venues, to microsites promoting single albums. That meeting left me with a short list of books to read (The Future of Music as well as some books by Lawrence Lessig) and a lot of brainstorming to do. After the Free Derek Webb campaign launched later that year in September, we started discussing and developing the idea for NoiseTrade in a more focused way. Many, many iterations of the concept were presented—on both a functionality and business operational level. Sometimes the site’s production looked like it was going to go full steam ahead. At other points, however, it looked as though the idea had seen its day and would fade into the background as another brilliant concept that never quite made it. 

The initial discussions about NoiseTrade had happened while I was working in the day to day operations at Portland Studios, a design and illustration company I had founded with a few other people after we graduated from college. In December of 2007, I left my role there to pursue other projects. When Derek approached me about teaming together and kick-starting the NoiseTrade concept once again, it was just the right time. Having left my former position, I was now able to have the head space and a financial cushion needed in order to involve myself in the project more fully. 

Portland Studios was approached by NoiseTrade to take care of all the development for the site, while I would fill the role of designer. Derek, along with the other owners, has been carefully combing over the entire process looking for the most minor ways to improve the experience for both the music fan and the artist. 

After all the talk and work, the version of the site that has finally emerged is remarkably simple. Mark Johnson has worked tirelessly to implement the design and remove any remaining bugs in the system. The site is no complex online 

music store. Rather, it commits to doing one thing well: connecting artists and fans through music recommendations while giving both parties what they want—exposure for musicians and free music for fans. An extremely simple idea, when put that way. 

The first order of business is to launch a cleanly executed site that works intuitively, engagingly, and flawlessly. We’ll spend the next three weeks putting on the final touches and finally launch on July 4.