The two have an eight-year history together that dates to a performance McCracken made at a Nashville coffee shop, according to Webb's e-mail newsletter. Webb was on a coffee run that day and became enamored of McCracken's voice and songwriting, the newsletter states. McCracken was eventually asked to join Webb's then-bandmates in Caedmon's Call on tour, and the seeds for a deeper relationship were sown.

Yesterday, Caedmon's Call divulged months and months of secret information to the fans and the Christian music world alike.  It has been little known for a year or so that Caedmon's Call's last album, In The Company of Angels II: The World Will Sing was their final album under their contract with Essential Records/Provident Music Group.  It was rumored that Caedmon's would stay independent, but yesterday's announcement told of signing with INO Records, one of the few labels in the industry that has a more independently-minded model.

Singer/songwriter Derek Webb is trying to broaden his audience and is trying many new ways to gain an audience.  Last year he gave away music at FreeDerekWebb.com (if you gave him your e-mail address and those of five friends).  This time, he wants to do it again, but on a much bigger scale.

Derek Webb once heard a story about legendary musician Keith Green that stated Green gave his music away for free because he cared so much about allowing people to hear and engage with it.

Green died in a plane crash in 1982, long before the days of free MP3s and the proliferation of the Internet. To simply give music away was, as Webb puts it, "a very difficult and expensive thing to do at that time."