On Contemporary Worship
The Leaderboard
How a Copyright Service Quietly Decided What the American Church Would Sing
Published
Behind the songs the American church sings each Sunday stands a mechanism few worshipers ever see: a copyright licensing service whose leaderboard quietly shapes the common repertoire. This essay, adapted from The Hollow Altar, asks what it means that so much of the church’s song is set this way — and what confessional Lutherans should make of it.
Adapted from the chapter “Worship as Vibe” in The Hollow Altar: A Confessional Lutheran Invitation to Weary Evangelicals.