With the CompassionArt book and album due for release, Clem Jackson spoke to Martin Smith

Martin: We created four writing spaces in this big building and I split the group into teams of three each morning, which we changed around so that everyone worked with everyone else at some point. The first night we pulled all the names out of the hat which was very funny. The first session was like Michael [W Smith], Israel [Houghton] and Paul [Baloche], or something like that. They went in room A with the aim that basically in two hours they had to come out with a song and then play it to the rest of the group. All of a sudden you have these four separate teams who would bring their songs to the group to critique - it was pretty scary. Then you've got Graham Kendrick in the corner, "Mr Lyrics Guru," saying "I'm not sure about that." So it was very funny and very profound all at the same time.

Clem: I can see how the songwriters got on board with the project so quickly, but how did you manage to get all the management, publishers, copyright bodies and agents to agree to waive their rights?

Martin: Well it has been a miracle. I think in some senses that's been the bigger miracle. There's a great man in Nashville called Bill Hearn who is the CEO of EMI CMG and he was the first phone call that I made. I said "Bill, I'm in at the deep end, I need some help. How on earth are we going to create a structure to hold this vision?" Within about two minutes he said, "Right, great, I'm in, whatever you need, let's do it." So he really opened a lot of doors for me. And then all the publishers of the songwriters released all their writers for this project and said "Go and do it, we'll release you from our deals." So not only are these songs written by all 12 people, the copyright is owned by CompassionArt, the royalties come directly to the charity, they don't go anywhere else - even CCLI have waived their percentage. It was extraordinary.

Clem: So conservatively, how much money are you hoping to raise through this album and the on-going song royalties?

Martin: I really do not know; it all depends. If there's one song in that batch of 15, if there's a "How Great Is Our God" or a "Here I Am To Worship", that really comes out strong then it could earn quite a bit of money over the next 20 years. It's a long-term plan. Record sales, who knows? It could sell 10,000 copies, it could sell a million, we really, really do not know.

Clem: So the message to the Church then is buy this album and this book and start giving back, to do what the Bible tells us to do, look after widows and orphans?

Martin: Yes exactly, and I think that actually Bono said this, "This whole thing is not a burden, it's actually a joyful process." I think the thing for me is that it is not necessarily let's all sell our houses and give the money - I don't think that's really what this is about. It's more about we have to see what God has put into our hands - that's probably the thing that we can use and contribute. For me, I write songs; what good is that going to do to help some kid that is dying of HIV Aids in Africa? It's not going to help anyone. But I've looked at it and I've thought, I need to come up with a clever idea of how that can generate some income, and so that was the birth of CompassionArt.

This article first appeared in the November 2008 issue of Christian Marketplace magazine.