Break a tradition? The words of JD Sumner
One of the many things I do when I'm not posting here is read other blogs, and books of my own as well.
The topic that inspired today's entry is how gospel music competes in the larger marketplace with other genres of music(country music in particular)...I have seen this discussed on some other gospel music blogs.
When it comes to books, I don't merely read them and file them away. I reread them often, particularly if I enjoy the stories they tell.
One book I reread often is JD Sumner's autobiography, "The Life And Times Of JD Sumner", a reprint and update of the book he originally authored in the early 1970s with noted gospel music author Bob Terrell. I reread it because JD is truly one of the alltime gospel music greats, an innovator and personality whose story is at once entertaining and educational.
One example of that educational aspect is JD's discussion of his life and business activities since the first printing of his book, in Chapter 23, "Water Under The Bridge". Among the things he opines on is the traditional practice of gospel quartets selling their recordings at their concerts.
I think you might find his thoughts interesting, and I'll cite some of them here from the book. I hope you will be led to share your own opinions on JD's opinions.
Keep in mid as you read this, he refers to "records", because when he wrote those comments(1993), the primary types of recordings he and the Stamps would sell at concerts were still LPs. But you can substitute CDs without changing the gist of his thoughts.
Here then, is JD.
"When James D. Vaughan put the first professional quartet on the road in 1910, he did it to sell his company's song books. That was the sole reason for the quartet's existence, and it worked. His song book sales doubled and tripled.
When song books became a music store item, they were replaced among the quartets by records, and quartets simply sold their own just as they had sold the song books.
There have been attempts made to get our records into record stores, but they've been largely unsuccessful. They'll never be successful as long as quartets continue to market their own."
That was not John Scheideman, that was JD Sumner from his autobiography. He speaks from authority I could never hope to have on the subject. What do you all think of JD's remarks? Is he right?
I'm looking forward to reading what you think.
Posted on Dec 08, 2007 - 11:52 AM | [2]
Comments |
Southern Gospel Music
|
Permalink
Page 1 of 1 pages
Comments
Page 1 of 1 Comment Pages
Page 1 of 1 Comment Pages
I have respected JD's knowledge, opinion and approach to Gospel Music for about 40 years and I think I agree with him, however, we would surely have to exclude Bill Gaither. Gaither products are sold at their concerts, on TV and even given away for radio promotions, yet he seems to be successful in retail stores. I guess there is always an exception to every rule.