So you wanna be a gospel music star?
(with apologies to the Byrds)…
Recently I’ve been engaged in quite a bit of dialogue with some gospel music artists I know and fellow fans about the way that the “industry” of gospel music operates…and although I understand where some people are coming from with regard to to how it all works, I admit that I’m a bit uneasy about certain aspects of it.
Not just about the politics involved…that’s always a good straw man to beat up on when discussing the gospel business, but the basic mindset of the industy at heart.
Many who try to make a living as gospel singers start out with the noblest of ideals…they want to sing songs they love about the God they love, and encourage their audiences to embrace that same God themselves. But, like most ambitious workers, they become distracted by the economic challenges of the calling, and gradually, their focus shifts from reaching audiences and being faithful to their original vision to self-perpetuation. In other words, they feel forced to address commercial considerations to enable their calling to survive. The vision then gets transformed from serving their Lord and audiences to “making it”, and reaching the top of their profession, i.e., a sort of worldly popularity contest not unlike the various “ratraces” of secular professions.
The focus turns from striving for effective musical presentation and mastering the art to obtaining “radio airplay” and “chart success” in whatever way possible. And it doesn’t help that so many parts of the gospel music industry, while professing that they’re helping to develop “ministries”(arguably the most misused word in gospel music), are instead primarily interested in how the artists they’re guiding can help them reach their “bottom line”, i.e., make money for them.
Not that that’s all bad…after all, these ARE businesses, and they need to make money to continue to exist at all. That’s not the point. What makes me uneasy as an interested observer(and in some cases, a friend)of these artists, it’s a shame to see them acquiesce to so much of the ways of the world to allegedly fuflfill their visions. If I were an artist, I’d be especially frustrated. As the song said some 30 years ago, “There Must Be A Better Way”.
But really…how impressive is the amount of radio airplay one gets? How impressive is putting several songs on “the charts”(however they’re put on)? Artists who wish to use their talents to glorify God know that He is not that impressed with earthly acclaim…in fact, Matthew 6 could well be applied to many gospel artists of this day and age…in other words, those who get the glory down here may learn that that’s all the acclaim they’ll get. And how does one feel when that happens to them? A bit empty? Quite possibly.
Too many artists with real talent to use their musical ability to glorify God get discouraged by the “industry” because some of the things they have to do to maintain their integrity are not very commercial…so such artists are made to feel as though they are failures at their calling when in fact, they’ve not failed at all. So how DOES one maintain one’s spirtual integrity and still have enough commercial success to “make it” in gospel music?
Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts in gospel music…nor in the rest of life. And there are no promises of any glory when it comes to dedicating one’s self to God’s work. There are only challenges to meet and overcome…and like in other parts of life, it can be done if it is in the will of God for it to happen.
The outstanding example of that in gospel music is that of the Couriers, who began traveling as a gospel quartet in 1958 with the hope of being “messengers” of God through music. Yes, they faced the challenges and temptations to take advantage of their station in life to be “stars”, but because of the way God led them, and their fundamental trust in His ways, they managed to overcome those temptations and “make it” their way…which ultimately was His way. Their focus was not on being the top group in gospel music(although they had those opportunities), nor being particularly well-known. Their focus was on their craft, and their witness, and on being the best group of singers and witnesses to God that they could be.
And looking back on the Couriers’ career, their music was recognized as among the most innovative and accomplished of any artist who ever made gospel music. They didn’t use “talent coaches” or “consultants”, but just prayed and worked hard…and that ability came. It came despite the fact that with the exception of such natural talents as tenor Duane Nicholson and pianist David Young, none of the Couriers was a particularly naturally talented musician. But in time, Don Baldwin became one of the finest quartet baritone singers of his era, and Neil Enloe became not only one of the best lead singers of his day, but also one of the top writers/pianists/arrangers of his time as well.
And did they “make it”? Well, some 60 albums, three Dove Awards, 3,000,000 miles traveled, and 81 countries sung in is testimony to the fact that they did pretty well in a purely statistical way.
But more important, the reputation that they earned as people and as witnesses of God proved that they were faithful to their vision, without compromising the ideals that they had when they began singing. It CAN be done.
But the “industry” doesn’t seem to want to develop artists that fit those standards at all. Rather, they seem content to “settle” for a worldly sort of acclaim, and the trappings of success.
So if you want to be a gospel music “star”, I suppose you can…if you’re not that picky about how you do it. But if you care, and it matters how you fulfill your calling, there are better examples to follow than that which the “industry” puts forth.
Posted on May 09, 2006 - 08:07 PM | [0]
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