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"Give away your music? Are you nuts?" That's what most said in the fall of 2006, when Derek Webb made his Mockingbirdalbum available for free download. But the move seems to have paid off, providing the former Caedmon's Call vocalist with a broader audience to discuss the challenging subjects close to his heart, most notably whether a Christian can support violence when Jesus commands us to love our enemies. Webb was only too eager to answer questions about all of this as it relates to his latest recording, The Ringing Bell, his seventh album since his solo debut in 2003.

Seven albums in just four years—is it because you have so much to say?

Derek Webb It's strange because I don't feel that way at all. I'm the opposite of prolific. I have friends who really crank out songs—sometimes a couple per week—and then record the best. I write maybe 11 or 12 a year, but I record every one of them. I'll never have a box set with unreleased songs. I just don't feel like I write as much.

But you do write quickly. Some people take years to craft a single album.

Webb Yeah, that's true. I think some of it might be a sense of urgency. With some of the stuff I've fallen into content wise, there is an urgency to not wait to start the discussion. I think that weighs heavily on me, especially when I think about the next record. This one has just released, and I'm already looking ahead to the next one!

What was the intent behind your One Zero projects—the acoustic and remix albums?

Webb For a long time, INO Records and I have wanted to do two projects in two different styles with the same set of songs. We wound up doing it because of giving away Mockingbird through the FreeDerekWebb.com promotion. I knew that giving away the music would ultimately end up being better, because when you have more exposure, you sell more records.

But we also knew that retailers wouldn't see it that way. Recognizing that driving people to stores is an important part of business, we wanted to reassure them we weren't trying to dismantle conventional distribution. We wanted to be careful to secure those bridges before going into the promotion. So in giving the record away and connecting with the audience, we collected [consumer] information for both sides of retail to promote two exclusive projects.

The physical stores got the acoustic album, which never went digital. And the [online sites] got the remix project, which was never printed [to CD]. We thought it would be good for people who heard me for the first time after downloading Mockingbird to give them a "highlight reel" of what I've done up to that point. We're still very much in the midst of the experiment. Giving the record away and collecting information was just the first part. Now we're seeing if we can make that info worth something.

Aside from growth in size, have you noticed other changes in your audience since giving away your album?

Webb It felt like a dramatic turning point, especially at live events. There were venues where we'd normally play for a couple hundred people, and we were up to six or seven hundred, sometimes sellout crowds. They definitely seem more engaged than usual too, especially with songs from Mockingbird. I feel a serious kind of camaraderie. Before, people sat and listened to the songs and took it in. Now people are more responsive, singing and reacting to the songs.

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