The Background:
I’ve been following the career of Derek Webb since he was in Caedmon’s Call years back.  He has become a HUGE voice in my life.  She Must and Shall Go Free was a game changer for me!  It was released during a time that I was questioning the local church and it’s place in the God equation.  I was truly brought to tears when I heard the lyrics of his song The Church,
you cannot care for me with no regard for her
if you love me you will love the church
All to say, Derek Webb is a poet and has an incredible view of God and His Church.
The Controversy:
It seems that Derek and his label have not been seeing eye to eye regarding his new album, Stockholm Syndrome.  All content has been pulled from his myspace and his website has been replaced with copies of two emails he wrote to his subscribers.  You can read the criptic emails below.
Email #1 (5/12/09):
friends-
i haven’t sent many personal emails to this email list but we’re in a situation that has gotten a little out of control and it’s time to fill you in. as some of you may know, i’ve been working for months on my new record, ‘stockholm syndrome’, which i’ve recently finished and turned in to the record label. they’ve been very supportive over the years, but this time we didn’t get the response we expected. it seems i’ve finally found the line beyond which my label cannot support me, and apparently i’ve crossed it.
i consider this my most important record and am adamant about all of you hearing it. we had originally hoped to have ‘stockholm syndrome’ out this month (next week even), but at this point we’re not sure when the record will come out and in what form. the majority of the controversy is surrounding one song, which i consider to be among the most important songs on the record. so we’ve decided it’s an appropriate time to break the rules.
but because of various legal/publishing issues we’re having to be rather careful with how we do what we need to do. that’s really all i can say for now and i’ve probably said too much.
this is our plan and we’re moving ahead, but we’re not sure what kind of trouble we might be getting into. we’ll let you know as soon as we know our next move-
derek
Email #2 (5/19/09):
friends-
this is turning into a bigger deal than we expected. as a result, we’re having to temporarily _pull everything online down (can’t explain now). and to be on the s_afe side, i’m going to pe_rsonally go offline while we sort this out. i re_ally shouldn’t use my twitter account for now either so _don’t expect any updates there.
make no m_istake, our trouble with the label over content i_s very r_eal, and not as simple as one word; we’re backed into a corner. but we have applied all of our creative resources to th_is, working furiou_sly to create something that we believe not only subverts any leg_al issues but should also be a _pretty wild ride.
so this will be the l_ast email for a while. we’ll t_ry to lea_k information via a new tw_itter account, @ssyndrome. you’re o_n your own so start payin_g attention. i’l_l see you _on the o_ther side-
derek
Obviously many questions are raised by these emails.
On one hand, Derek talks about the power of this album and I find it hard to believe his label would not support him! Â Let’s be real, the guy has proven himself. Â I say this without hearing the album nor fulling understanding it’s content so take that for what it is.
On the other hand, Derek is genius when it comes to creating a buzz.  There are some who believe this is more of a marketing ploy than a controversy.  I would be one of them.  Can you say that you will “leak information” on your official site?  There are also some hidden “easter eggs” on his site that cause me to raise an eyebrow.
Judge for yourself.
Things to get you started…
1) You may want to follow the new twitter he talks about in the 2nd email.
2) On Derek Webb.com there is an ellipsis toward the bottom right of the page.  Click it and type in kickdrum when it asks you “what do you want”.  This will take you to a huge picture of Derek.  To be honest, this is as far as I have gone down the rabbit hole.
3) If you want more go to this blog and read the comments. Â These guys have “cracked the code” and it’s been fun to uncover hidden songs and backdoors to that take you all over the place.
As I said, I’m leaning toward marketing stunt and I say well done sir. Â Either way, I cannot wait for Stockholm Syndrome to blow us all away!
-David
