Archive
2011 Grammy Award Christian Music Nominees
This list covers the gospel categories only as announced on Wednesday and does not include Christian nominees in other categories…
Note: This required a lot of editing and time did not permit readjusting the spacing; the green name or title, followed by space and then additional credits constitute a single entry. If someone wants to re-edit this and e-mail the HTML, I’ll repost it.
50. Best Gospel Performance
He Wants It All
You Hold My World
Nobody Greater
He’s Been Just That Good
Grace
51. Best Gospel Song
Beautiful Things
Better Than A Hallelujah
It’s What I Do
Our God
Return To Sender
52. Best Rock Or Rap Gospel Album
Church Music
For Those Who Wait
Beautiful Things
Rehab
Hello Hurricane
53. Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album
Beauty Will Rise
Love God. Love People.
Pieces Of A Real Heart
Mosaic
Tonight
54. Best Southern, Country, Or Bluegrass Gospel Album
Times Like These
The Reason
Expecting Good Things
Journey On
Live At Oak Tree: Karen Peck & New River
55. Best Traditional Gospel Album
The Experience
A City Called Heaven
Downtown Church
Here I Am
All In One
56. Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album
Get Ready
Love Unstoppable
Triumphant
Aaron Sledge
Still
I’m Not Just The Owner, I’m Also a Customer
My wife has taken lately to playing DVDs with good soundtracks through our living room home theater system without actually turning on the screen.
Today we “listened” to the Integrity Worship DVD, iWorship @home 7 and I really enjoyed the mix of these worship songs. Although designed for small churches and home fellowships, the series of DVDs is affordable for home enjoyment.
I’m considering switching our store system over so that the all music plays through the DVD player into the speakers with the TV screen optional. The iWorship series is ideally suited to instore play.
Christian Music in Recession: A Full Report
The boom of the 1990s might have actually done the music industry some harm. Once upon a time, artists—particularly in Christian music—never expected to make a living. They were in it with a passion for art and service. When some started to succeed, many saw Christian music as an opportunity to make money. A new economic expectation emerged, and the art and the passion were often diluted. [EMI-CMG’s John]Thompson thus sees a silver lining to the cloud of recession. “The lack of monetary benefit has filtered out some of the people who should not have been doing this in the first place,” he says. “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.”
That’s just one of the many insights in this exhaustive, five page report, published by a division of Christianity Today. The report touches on five major areas: Artists, Touring and Festivals, Record Sales, Record Labels and Radio; and then discusses ministry implications.
On record sales, the report says:
Record sales are crumbling, even though music consumption is up 30 percent since 2004. But album sales—the physical product, like CDs—are “about half of what they were 10 years ago,” says the GMA’s [John] Styll. “That is a function of people stealing music.” But it’s more than that. Copying CDs is a major issue, along with the ubiquity of music on the Internet, through satellite TV and radio, and on portable devices. “It’s like All-You-Can-Eat music,” says Styll. “People today don’t feel the need to own music.”
On the bright side, Christian music is doing slightly better than the music industry overall, with a current sales pace 5 percent behind last year compared to an 11 percent lag in the mainstream.
“Flat is the new up,” says Bill Nielsen, VP for merchandising at Lifeway, noting the phrase used to describe sales of recorded music. “We hear this from nearly every key partner.
When it comes to ministry, Matthew West offers this:
Recording artist West says many musicians are choosing not to tour during the recession, when that’s just what many listeners might need the most.
“It’s the opposite of what needs to be happening,” he says. “We need to be out there.” West did a 30-city fall tour to smaller crowds than usual, “but we feel like God had us there for a reason. You’re on the road and thinking, How are we going to pay for this? But people are losing their jobs, they’re in the audience, and they need encouragement.”
To read the full report, click here.
How are things in your store? Do you agree that the sky is falling, or is your music department holding its own against the tough economy?
Christian Book Shop Talk 