Christian music industry

The Christian music industry is a small part of the larger music industry, that focuses on traditional Gospel music, Southern gospel, contemporary Christian music, and alternative Christian music. It is sometimes called the gospel music industry, although this designation is not a limitation on the musical styles represented.

Christian artists generally use secular styles, pairing them with lyrics that display faith and spirituality to varying degrees. Generally speaking, the industry is influenced by mainstream culture. Musical trends, for instance, follow those of the secular scene, though usually a few years behind.[1][2][3] The Christian music industry carries the distinction of being the only music subculture whose content is labeled by its lyrical dimension rather than its music. Still, music within the industry is sold by its musical style rather than lyrical content.

Christian music's critics point to the divergent interests of commercialization and ministry, which have, according to some, polar opposite goals. Aspects of Christian music have long struggled to gain general acceptance, even within the Christian community. What some see as secularization and a lacking of direct theology, others see as artistic ministry. This opens up questions of the definition of "Christian music" that have lingered over the industry since its inception.

The Christian music industry experienced explosive growth in the 1990s. Christian music sales grew to exceed those for classical, jazz, and new age music.[4] Even so, the Christian music industry has experienced the same issues as the general market in recent years.

History

The contemporary Christian music industry has roots in the late 1960s and early 1970s Jesus Movement and its Jesus Music artists. The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music points out three reasons that the Christian music industry developed as a parallel structure to the general music industry.[5] First, the Jesus movement produced a large number of bands in a very short period, which the general market was unable and/or unwilling to absorb.[5] This was in part due to a lack of appreciation for the ideology expressed by such artists.[5] Finally, Jesus music artists tended toward mistrust of secular corporations.[5] According to another critic, the industry in this period was defined by four characteristics: lack of audience acceptance for styles, inferior production, inefficient distribution, and lack of wide radio exposure.[3] Petra, for instance, struggled to find an audience for their hard rock sound, partially due to limited distribution to Christian bookstores.[6]

Even so, the 1970s saw established corporations become involved in the Christian music market. Word Records, founded in 1951, was bought in 1976 by ABC.[7] Other music industry giants also got involved, CBS started a short-lived Christian label, Priority Records, and MCA also fielded a label, Songbird Records, for a time.

While the Jesus movement had ended by the 1980s, the Christian music industry was maturing and transforming into a multi-million dollar enterprise. The early 1980s saw an increase Christian booksellers taking product, and an increase in sales followed, despite the recession.[6] As a percentage of gross sales, Christian music rose from 9% in 1976 to 23% in 1985.[6] By her 1982 release Amy Grant had saturated the Christian marketplace and made significant inroads into the general market.[6] Sandi Patti and Michael W. Smith also gained influence within Christian music, each playing significant roles in the development of the industry.[6]

Harder forms of Christian music, such as heavy metal, also began to gain acceptance. This is largely credited to Stryper, who had begun making inroads into the general market by 1985.[8] Still, rock and alternative acts faced a longer battle for acceptance than contemporary acts, as the form was opposed by prominent religious leaders such as Jimmy Swaggart and others on the Christian right.[9][10] While in 1981 total gospel music industry revenues were approximately $180 million, only ten years later they would total $680 million, according to CCM Magazine.[11]

RIAA sales, 1995–2000
Year % $ Source
1995 3.1 381 [12]
1996 4.3 538 [12]
1997 4.5 549 [13]
1998 6.3 836 [13]
1999 5.1 744 [14]
2000 4.8 688 [14]

According to RIAA data, market share for sales of Christian music albums more than doubled between 1993 and 1997.[15] In the 1990s the Christian music industry became the fastest growing segment of the music industry.[15] This was due to several factors, including consolidation of record labels, and independent Christian bookstores into chains.[6]

The Christian music industry began adopting SoundScan in 1995, although implementation was spotty even into the millennium. Even so, the adoption caused the visibility of Christian artists to increase significantly, and brought credibility to the industry as Christian albums became integrated into all Billboard charts.[6][16][17]

In 1985, 90% of Christian music sales originated at Christian bookstores. By 1995, that number had dropped to 64%, with general retailers taking 21%, and the remainder accountable through other methods, such as direct mail.[6] At that same time, the industry was estimated to gross $750 million, with $381 million in album sales.[18] In the late 1990s, general market retailers, especially big box stores such as Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target, and Blockbuster began carrying a wider selection of Christian music products.[19] By 2000 those stores had surpassed Christian retail in terms of the number of Christian albums sold, according to Soundscan numbers.[20][21] This phenomenon was partially responsible for crossover successes. P.O.D., for example, sold 1.4 million albums in 2001, although sales at Christian retail outlets accounted for only 10%.[20]

The new millennium has brought challenges for the record industry as a whole, and these have affected the Christian music industry as well.[22] Contemporary worship music, a long time staple of the industry, began to gain significant market share in about the year 2000.[23][24] By focusing on marketing worship music to youth culture, this genre became a growth driver despite the downturn in the general music industry.[25][26][27][28]

"The money is just drying up.
And it's not being replaced."

John W. Styll, president, Gospel Music Association and longtime CCM publisher[22]

Growth continued until about 2003,[26] but has generally followed the trends of the larger music industry since that point. In 2009 a The New York Times op-ed placed the entire music industry on a "deathwatch,"[29] pointing out that new forms of media, piracy, and new pricing options are driving gross sales down. In another example of parallelism, the Christian music industry has experienced largely the same phenomenon. In the Christian marketplace, music consumption has risen by as much as 30% since 2005, but overall album sales have dropped to about half of their 1999 levels.[22] However, some critics point out that the current downturn may have long term positive effects for the industry. John J. Thompson told Christianity Today that "The lack of monetary benefit has filtered out some of the people who should not have been doing this in the first place. If the people who are in it for the money are gone, it leaves more turf for those who had something a little bit loftier in mind."[22]

Criticisms

"Ghetto" assertion

Christian music is sometimes cited as a "ghetto,"[3][30][31] meaning that the majority of artists in the industry are pigeonholed to operate solely in it. These artists are isolated from the mainstream public, to Christian media, including radio, magazines, and book stores. For many this is a conscious choice, however others, not content to stay in an isolated industry segment, attempt to "cross over" and gain acceptance in the general market. For many artists, being called Christian becomes a stigma.[32]

Name recognition in Christian music
Artist Familiarity
Amy Grant
  
 70%
  
 67%
BeBe and CeCe Winans
  
 43%
  
 13%
Sandi Patty
  
 42%
  
 13%
Carman
  
 33%
  
 9%
Michael W. Smith
  
 30%
  
 10%
dc Talk
  
 26%
  
 11%
Steven Curtis Chapman
  
 26%
  
 6%
A 1997 survey looked at familiarity with "well-known" Christian artists. Self-identified Christian music listeners in are shown in green, and the general public in red.[33]

A 1997 study revealed that a self-identified audience of "Christian music listeners" had what was considered a lacking recognition of Christian artists.[33] The survey was commissioned by the Christian Music Trade Association and Z Music Television. The study looked at several artists including Amy Grant, BeBe and CeCe Winans, Carman, Steven Curtis Chapman, dc Talk, Sandi Patty, and Michael W. Smith. At the time of the survey, each of these artists was active in Christian music and had been so for at least nine years, was a multiple Dove Award and/or Grammy Award winner, and had albums certified Gold or higher.

Even so, the survey found that the Christian music audience was no more familiar with artists in the field than they were with Hootie & The Blowfish, a popular act at that time. The study concluded that the word "Christian" was the problem, causing a stigma. "It's the label, not the music, that dissuades," one Christian music executive was quoted as saying, agreeing with the survey.[33]

Another aspect of the "ghetto" is that some artists have trouble gaining audience with Christians due to their non-conservative image.[34] Stryper is a well-known example. Stryper received large amounts of criticism from groups on the Christian right, who argue (among other things) that their image as rock stars contradict their espoused faith. One critic wrote that the marriage of secular and religious elements in "Christian music" "violates all that God has commanded in the Bible about separation."[35]

The "ghetto" has several effects, critics point out that the audience of such artists are often already Christians, thus limiting the impact of any supposed "evangelism."[36] Another is that artists sometimes have trouble appealing to and maintaining both secular and religious audiences. For example:

The problem, as summed by one critic, was that the music was too religious for secular audience, while simultaneously too aggressive for religious audiences.[30][31] One critic describes the situation, stating that for a band "to be taken seriously outside the Christian scene, a band must stay far, far away from that scene."[44]

Mutemath, for instance sued their record label with the goal of removing their product from the Christian market. Their first release sold almost 30,000 copies, with "bulk of sales coming from the Christian market," according to Billboard.[45] The band had been placed in the Christian market by their record label largely because their lead singer, Paul Meany, was previously with the band Earthsuit, whose only major label release was released on a Christian label.

This caused the band to not get taken seriously by music critics, and by the release of their full-length album the band began expressing discontent with their situation.[46] Meany told Tucson Weekly "...we began to see ourselves getting pigeonholed into this particular world that we weren't necessarily proud to be associated with... We're not trying to preach through our music; we don't have some kind of evangelistic agenda with what we're doing... You know, you don't want to be ashamed of your faith and your beliefs, but you don't want to be marketed by that, either."[46]

On the other hand, some artists operate solely within the "ghetto" of Christian music, and find great success in doing so.

Downplayed religious content

An early Christian record label, Lamb & Lion Records (founded by Pat Boone) reported in 1978 that it was their goal to produce crossover artists, but they were limited by lack of distribution to the secular marketplace.[47] Both problems affected Christian labels into the 1990s.[36] "Since people don't understand [the term] 'the Blood of Jesus, '" stated a manager for Lamb & Lion, "...music that communicates must approach it another way. We've got to present a subtle but sensitive Christian message."[47] Lyrics with subdued religious content have become commonplace in the industry; One critic points out that the secular hit "Spirit in the Sky" "has more explicit religious references than do many recent Christian radio hits."[48]

Some critics have alleged that CCM often uses "minimal direct theology," and promotes a "Jesus is my boyfriend" image of God.[6] Using downplayed religious content in lyrics has allowed some artists to "cross over" and make significant impact into the general market. Some Christian bands are able to do this while maintaining their identity in the Christian market. For example, MercyMe, whose double platinum album Almost There produced the Christian and secular chart hit "I Can Only Imagine." However, the lyrics of the single, while Christian in nature, contain what one critic calls "rather vacuous theology."[30]

Sometimes "crossing over" creates ambiguity over whether an artist is Christian (a "Christian band"),[31] or the artist is composed of Christians and produces music that appeals to Christian music fans but doesn't cater to the Christian market ("Christians in a band").[31] Such artists are:

In video

The trend continues when examining religious videos. Many Christian bands produce videos with rotation on MTV in mind, however, the images can lead to an ambiguous impression of the portrayal.

In 1982 MTV featured two videos, "Constantly Changing" and "It's Mad" (which was the first one to be featured), made by the Swedish Christian rock band Jerusalem to promote their 1981 release Warrior.[58] DeGarmo and Key was the first Christian band in the US whose video appeared on MTV, made a video for their single "Six, Six, Six" off their 1984 release Communication. While the video was shown on MTV for a short time, it was subsequently pulled for a scene which depicted the Antichrist engulfed in flames, which MTV described as "senseless violence."[58] Eventually the video was re-edited for MTV—however, the unedited version continued to play in Christian bookstores and on Christian television networks, like Trinity Broadcasting.[59] The video received a Dove award in a category created specially for it, "Gospel Music Visual Song" in 1985.[59]

Another artist, Brian Welch, whose solo debut was released to Christian markets, found their album pulled from some Christian bookstores after the music video for "Flush" was released.[60] The video is an interpretation of the authors personal experience with methamphetamine, before his religious conversion. At the time the album was pulled, Brian Welsh released a statement about the visual content of the video, relating its symbolism to his personal experiences of addiction and redemption. He also issued the following statement: "The video for 'Flush' is about crystal meth addiction and the crazy things anyone addicted to meth will do while they're high or to get their fix. Everything the models were doing in the video is what I was wrapped up in while I was addicted to meth... I believe I would be dead right now if I continued using meth, but instead, I chose to surrender my life to Christ and die to myself so He could share His resurrection with me... There is a huge message of hope on my CD and I believe those retailers that are pulling the CD from their shelves are robbing someone spiritually by taking it off of the shelves."[60]

Classification of videos on Z Music by content[61]

A study of visual elements of Christian music videos on Z Music Television, a now defunct MTV-like channel for Christian music, found that almost one third of the channel's videos could be described as "Ambiguously Religious" at best (red area, right).[61] The conclusion was that the channel's programming was designed to make its Christian nature "apparent only to those willing to listen for it."[61]

Other arguments

Some critics describe the Christian music industry as being committed "to the goals and strategies of the commercial marketplace – industrial growth, increased market share, and greater profits."[3] This became more apparent in the 1980s and 1990s as the largest Christian record labels became subsidiaries of the "mainstream" labels (who are themselves owned by huge media conglomerates like Viacom and Time Warner).[31][32] Others see the industry as taking on the roles traditionally reserved for the church. Concerts are the equivalent of religious services, and commodities symbols of faith.[62] Under these conditions "evangelism becomes rhetoric—justifying the propaganda value of the industry's work – not spiritual reality."[62] One critic comments that "perhaps the 'ghettoization' and parallel institutionalism of CCM manifests itself nowhere more apparently than at numerous Christian rock festivals."[30]

See also

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Powell 2002, "dc Talk" p. 239. Quote: "Of course the Christian market was a few years behind the rest of the world... it always is." [original emphasis]
  2. ↑ Urbanski, David (July 1997). "One Crazy Summer". CCM Magazine. 20 (1): 24–32. ISSN 1524-7848.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Forbes 2000, "Evangelicals and Popular Music: The Contemporary Christian Music Industry" pp. 105–109
  4. ↑ "GMA Industry Overview 2008" (PDF). Christian Music Trade Association.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Powell 2002, "Introduction" pp. 9–13.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Cusic 2002, Part Four, pp. 279–386
  7. ↑ Mount, Daniel J. (2005). A City on a Hilltop? The History of Contemporary Christian Music. p. 50. Archived from the original on February 3, 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-12.
  8. ↑ Hale, Mark (1993). "2869". Headbangers (First edition, second printing ed.). Ann Arbor, Michigan: Popular Culture, Ink. p. 336. ISBN 1-56075-029-4.
  9. ↑ "Christian Rock Wars: Evangelist Jimmy Swaggart Tells Why He Hates Today's Christian Rock". CCM Magazine. 7 (12): 14–17. June 1985. ISSN 1524-7848.
  10. ↑ "Articles / Christian Music". Dial-the-Truth Ministries.
  11. ↑ Gascon, Ana (December 1991). "A Music Video Network That Needs To Be Zeen". CCM Magazine. 14 (6): 12. ISSN 1524-7848.
  12. 1 2 Warren, Lindy (December 22, 1997). "Top 15 Impact-makers in 1997". CCM Update. OCLC 22937802.
  13. 1 2 Gillespie, Natalie Nichols (March 29, 1999). "Gospel Music Sees Record-setting RIAA Numbers". CCM Update. OCLC 22937802.
  14. 1 2 Warren, Lindy (March 19, 2001). "RIAA Consumer Report: Christian Music Marketshare Declines in 2000". CCM Update. OCLC 22937802.
  15. 1 2 Gillespie, Natalie Nichols (March 17, 1997). "Gospel Is Fastest-Growing Genre". CCM Update. OCLC 22937802.
  16. ↑ Brasher, Joan (July 12, 1999). "Christian Music's Mid-Year Sales Jump 21 Percent". CCM Update. OCLC 22937802.
  17. ↑ Akins, Debra (1995). "The Year in Review: 1995 Broke New Ground for Christian Music". CCM Update. OCLC 22937802.
  18. ↑ "God's Own Country". 336 (7928). The Economist. August 19, 1995.
  19. ↑ Warren, Lindy (January 26, 1998). "CMTA Launches Dove Retail, Radio Campaign, Wal-Mart to expand Christian music sections". CCM Update. OCLC 22937802.
  20. 1 2 Connor, Lizza (January 7, 2002). "Christian Music Sales Set Record for 2001: Gap between general-market and Christian retailers widest in SoundScan history". CCM Update. OCLC 22937802.
  21. ↑ Warren, Lindy (November 19, 2001). "General-market Competition Focus for CBA Expo 2002". CCM Update. OCLC 22937802.
  22. 1 2 3 4 Geil, Mark (June 2, 2009). "Music in Recession". Christianity Today. ISSN 0009-5753.
  23. ↑ Feinberg, Margaret (April 15, 2000). "Modern Worship Is Exploding". Christian Retailing. 46 (8): 45–56.
  24. ↑ McCabe, Ginny (July 1999). "Praise & Worship Music Changing for the Millennium". CBA Marketplace. 32 (7): 222.
  25. ↑ Price, Deborah Evans (May 1, 1999). "Worship Music Targets Youth". Billboard. 111 (18). ISSN 0006-2510.
  26. 1 2 "Gospel and Christian". Billboard. 118 (13): 35–37. April 1, 2006. ISSN 0006-2510.
  27. ↑ Price, Deborah Evans (February 15, 2003). "Praise and Worship Genre Blessed With Global Growth". Billboard. 115 (7). ISSN 0006-2510.
  28. ↑ Riddle, Melissa (May 29, 2000). "Modern Worship Music Booms: Labels scramble to meet demand". CCM Update. OCLC 22937802.
  29. ↑ Blow, Charles M. (July 31, 2009). "Swan Songs?". The New York Times. p. A17. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
  30. 1 2 3 4 Nichols 2008, Chapter 5: "Jesus on Vinyl" pp. 122 – 146
  31. 1 2 3 4 5 Howard 1999, p. 9
  32. 1 2 Hendershot 2004, pp. 39–84
  33. 1 2 3 "Consumer Survey Reveals Potential Markets for Christian Music". CCM Update. May 26, 1997. OCLC 22937802.
  34. ↑ Kyle 2006, "If You Can't Beat 'em Join 'em" pp. 281–286
  35. ↑ Pyle, Hugh (1985). The Truth About Rock Music. Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Sword of the Lord Publishers. ISBN 0-87398-839-6.
  36. 1 2 Romanowski, William D. (Fall 1992). "Roll Over Beethoven, Tell Martin Luther The News: American Evangelicals and Rock Music". Journal of American Culture. Bowling Green State University. 15 (3): 79–82. doi:10.1111/j.1542-734X.1992.t01-1-00079.x.
  37. 1 2 Powell 2002, "Randy Matthews" pp. 566–569.
  38. ↑ Rabey, Steve (December 1980). "Randy Matthews... The Long Road To Now". CCM Magazine. 3 (6): 14. ISSN 1524-7848.
  39. 1 2 3 Powell 2002, "Bob Dylan" pp. 277 – 286.
  40. ↑ Powell 2002, "Larry Norman" pp. 633–641.
  41. ↑ "Christian Rock's 'Father' Dies: icon Larry Norman was often estranged from the industry". Christianity Today. 52 (4): 13. April 2008. ISSN 0009-5753.
  42. ↑ Jeffries, Vincent. "Upon This Rock". Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
  43. ↑ Thompson, John J. (April 2008). "Remembering Larry Norman". CCM Magazine. 24 (9): 42. ISSN 1524-7848.
  44. ↑ Moll, Rob (June 2006). "Rock Un-Solid: When Christian bands bite the hands that praised them". Christianity Today.
  45. ↑ Martens, Todd (March 11, 2006). "A question of faith: buzz band Mutemath, preferring secular rock, sues Warner". Billboard Magazine. 118 (11).
  46. 1 2 Holub, Annie (January 19, 2006). "Church and State: Mutemath fights the machine at Warner Bros". Tucson Weekly.
  47. 1 2 Hortegas, Steve (May 1978). "H-E-R-E-S'S Christian Show Biz!". Eternity. 29 (5).
  48. ↑ Alfonso 2002, "Contemporary Christian music: A History" pp. 11–29.
  49. ↑ "Dove Award Recipients for Hard Music Recorded Song". Gospel Music Association. Archived from the original on January 6, 2002. Retrieved 2006-11-15.
  50. ↑ "Dove Award Recipients for Hard Music Album". Gospel Music Association. Archived from the original on April 6, 2002. Retrieved 2006-11-15.
  51. ↑ Winters, Kelly (2005). "Project 86". In Pilchak, Angela M. Contemporary Musicians. Volume 52. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale Group. pp. 129–130. ISBN 0-7876-8065-6. ISSN 1044-2197.
  52. ↑ Gonzales, Ron (May 28, 2004). "Wide range of music inspires Project 86". Albuquerque Journal: 2D.
  53. ↑ Dodd, Jason (May–June 2000). "Hard and Fast". 7ball (30): 51–52. ISSN 1082-3980.
  54. ↑ DiBase, John (April 23, 2007). "I want Rival Factions". Jesus Freak Hideout. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
  55. ↑ "Switchfoot steps toward stardom". The Boston Globe. January 9, 2004. Archived from the original on January 23, 2005. Retrieved 2006-08-09.
  56. ↑ "Question and Answer with Switchfoot's Jon Foreman". October 13, 2004. Retrieved 2006-08-09.
  57. ↑ "Rocking for Jesus". June 30, 2006. Archived from the original on July 6, 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-09.
  58. 1 2 "A Cable Music First? Lamb & Lion act to be seen and heard on MTV.". Billboard. Billboard Magazine. 88 (?): 43. November 20, 1982.
  59. 1 2 "DeGarmo and Key Video Airs on MTV". MusicLine. CCM Communications. 3 (1): 3. May 1985. ISSN 0746-7656.
  60. 1 2 "Ex-Korn guitarist Brian "Head" Welch defends 'controversial' video". Blabbermouth.net. September 25, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  61. 1 2 3 Gow, Joe (Summer 1999). "Rockin', Rappin', and Religion: Programming Strategy on Z Music Television". Popular Music and Society. Bowling Green State University Popular Press. 23 (2): 17. doi:10.1080/03007769908591730. ISSN 0300-7766.
  62. 1 2 Forbes 2000, "Evangelicals and Popular Music: The Art World of Contemporary Christian Music" pp. 109–115
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