Death Of The Christian Industry
There were lots of great thoughts on my post this last week regarding paying for Christian entertainment.
I wanted to give you a few of my thoughts, but also draw your attention to an interesting article regarding the Christian music industry(CCM). It was released this last week. The timing of it’s release is perfect for our discussion.
First of all, some of my thoughts. And I know that my thoughts may upset some of you 
#1 “Christian” should not be a label for music, movies, books or anything else. None of these things are Christian. People are Christian, art is not. Labeling an item as Christian degrades the name and purpose of Christianity. Christianity is not about the art, it’s about the person, Jesus. This would also encourage the demise of the word “Secular”. There is no need for these distinctions as I can see them. A person will declare who they are and what they believe in through their art. That is label enough.
#2 I have no problem paying for any type of entertainment. If an artist is good, they are deserving of the pay. In my opinion, getting rid of the labels will increase the quality of art in general. I’ve always felt that Christian music has a captive audience (which is what the article talks about) and because of this, it lives to a different standard and in turn ends up encouraging low quality products. If your audience is captive, there is no need for a level of quality. Of course, I would love it if concerts were easier on my pocket book. And because of that, I do not attend many.
Now, I believe there are amazing artists in the CCM world, but I also think there is a ton of crappy music in CCM world. I appreciate that it talks of God, but if it’s bad music, it’s bad music and I don’t think it deserves my money.
Also, art is subjective. What is good to one is not to another. That is fine, but there are levels of quality and creativity that, in my opinion, need to be met to be considered good art.
So, whether Mercy Me or John Mayer, I will pay to hear and be entertained by good music. Of course, the preaching is a lot better at a Mercy me concert
Now for more great thoughts on this. Check out this article over at Collide Magazine.
One positive I see with the distinction is that it allows us to know what we are getting. Obviously a lot of the time it doesn’t make a difference. I don’t know that you can tell a big difference between Switchfoot and Coldplay. However it is nice to know that I am supporting believers when I buy their music. But again…just because it is a Christian band doesn’t mean a non Christian labeled band doesn’t have Christians or that the Christian band lives with a great example.
I’m just saying that the distinction creates a benchmark that can be helpful at times. Of course…I’m not disagreeing with what you said. Great points Brent. See you bright and early.
Tyler’s last blog post…Endorsement
I have to agree with your points about the use of the word Christian. That is why I prefer follower of Christ. How come I feel like there is a start to some tables overturning in Christian Merchandising?
I say let music be sold as music… If God wants to speak through music to a person he will, no matter if it is label Christian or not. For example God has me captivated by Johnny Cash as of late. Most defiantly not CCM.
ckroboth’s last blog post…Help me with my next post.
“So, whether Mercy Me or John Mayer, I will pay to hear and be entertained by good music.”
And yet with the crappiest Christian music, I’m not worried that my daughters (age 10 and 15) will be subjected to lyrics and messages such as those in “Your Body Is A Wonderland”…
Kent
Kent, but you would be subjecting then to crappy music
In all seriousness, I appreciate your comment. But what’s your point. What does your decision to keep your kids from hearing something have to do with this post?
I agree with your take here. The term “Christian” has unfortunately become uncool to most of the world when followed by the words “music”, “movie” or “insert your Christian media type here”. (and sometimes by itself)
As music is not inherently good or evil (not talking about lyrics here), I listen to what catches my fancy, though I do try to pay attention to message too. I like when my money goes to a good Christian artist instead of Eminem, but the artist, no matter what genre or belief system, must earn the right to ask for my hard earned cash.
If we could possibly lose the labels (yeah, right), I think more of the GOOD “Christian” music would be heard, because it would be heard for it’s merit and not pidgeon-holed at the local Family Christian Store.
Old reference, but when the Jesus Freak album came out, before I had the chance to get it, one of my most un-Christian friends came to me RAVING about it. He was a professional singer/guitarist, and he was blown away by the writing, production quality, hooks, whatever. Not too many Christian artists have rocked the secular market that hard since (Jars of Clay got close), but there are new guys that can out there somewhere. I hope they step up soon!
Mark’s last blog post…Simon’s Cat ‘TV Dinner’
I think point #2 is very well made… that because people will listen to a band just because they’re Christian, bands aren’t as driven to make good quality music. Same with movies, especially.
“But what’s your point. What does your decision to keep your kids from hearing something have to do with this post?”
Sorry, I should have been more clear. The “Christian” label, while not a 100% guarantee, gives me some reassurance that the music won’t contain objectionable themes. Regarding point #1, I think the label is fine because I know the music itself is not “Christian” but that the themes are.
And to point #2, the statement that “Christian” music “lives to a different standard and in turn ends up encouraging low quality products” is specious. I don’t think it encourages low quality products in any way. There’s just as much crappy secular music (probably more) as non-secular. What is “encouraging” the low quality there? Just go listen to the majority of the bands on the Vans Warped Tour to get an idea…
Kent
Kent Kingery’s last blog post…Shaun Groves & Advanced Blogging
I see in #2 you referred to it as “Christian Music” ??
) I guess I don’t have a real big issue with labels – it is a way to help identify groups. I am now a “senior” – that is a label – an old one, but a label!
See you ina couple months then we can talk and get you all straightened out! lol
I find a couple things interesting/thought provoking with this thread:
1. the presumption that “christian” music does not contain objectionable themes
2. the tendency for many to want to give their money to the christian artist rather than the secular artist
3. music is not inherently good or evil until you add lyrics?
badguy’s last blog post…The Purpose Driven Blog
AMEN, AMEN and AMEN, dude.
I attended ‘Faith Night’ at a Frederick Keys baseball game last weekend (farm team for the Orioles). It was cool, some of the team gave their testimony, Bob and Larry were there, and they had this guy and his wife singing ‘Christian Music’… OK the guy was all hip GenX looking. Rad T-Shirt, wild trim job on his burns, looked like stripes or something, shaved head, earings the whole deal. It was mostly original music and of course, you could help ’support his ministry’ by purchasing CDs or T-shirts in the stadium. During the game my mother asked me if I bought a CD… I almost spewed beer out of my nose I laughed so hard… This music was the corniest, well crappiest stuff I had ever heard. It was like VBS music but he was serious… Like Carman meets Ray Boltz mixed with a touch of the Gaither Brothers all wrapped in a ‘Rad’ package.
I was embarrassed listening to him…. and watching all the folks standing, clapping and hand-raising along with him…
Kent,
Not to be a pain, but…
This kind of promotes a bit of laziness and disconnect from the music and your kids. Maybe it’s better to know what they ‘want’ to listen to google the lyrics, listen to it with them and decide together whether it’s appropriate or not, or discuss whats inappropriate (if old enough) and look at how God views that topic….
Me – I was given free tickets to the ‘Master of Metal’ tour tonight. Judas Priest headlining with Heaven and Hell (original Black Sabbath with Dio singing), Motörhead and Testament… I’m taking my 12 year old son. We have awesome seats… we leave in about an hour…
BuddyO’s last blog post…A Man on a Bridge
Well, I finally have a break to pipe in here, but Badguy, your nailing it!
Labels DO NOT promote “ease” of decision in what to buy. They only “claim” a position. and frankly there is a lot of theological crap being sung under the “guise” of “Christian”. To me, that is much more damaging to a person’s relationship and growth in Christ than hearing about someone’s life.
I’m in between sessions at the conference I’m at, so I’ll keep checking in a and pipe in later.
badguy – “3. music is not inherently good or evil until you add lyrics?” – you have misquoted me here. Maybe you just misunderstood what I meant.
Music can be peaceful or aggressive. Rockin’ or sedate. It has emotional attributes, and can evoke strong feelings, but I don’t believe “all rock music is from the devil” as has been said by many Christians, you know?
I do think that when you add the lyrical message, it can take on a whole other persona. For instance, P.O.D. can be stinkin’ aggressive like Rage, but their message is one of hope instead of offing cops, or whatever. This is usually the line I decide to cross (or not) when choosing what I listen to.
It’s a subjective thing (per song) I know, but I think my meaning is pretty easy to get.
Mark’s last blog post…Simon’s Cat ‘TV Dinner’
I would agree with both Mark and Bad here.
Maybe Bad, you are coming from the angle that music still isn’t evil, with or without lyrics. It is the person singing that causes the intent.
yes? no?
Actually Zack De La Rocha’s (singer for Rage Against the Machine) father was an artist and devout Jew. His father suffered a mental breakdown and destroyed all of his work claiming that it was ‘of the devil’ and not ‘of God’, he was eventually institutionalized. This early episode has influenced much of RATMs work. You can hear De La Rocha’s faith struggle in a lot of thier music.
Much of their music is focused on bringing to light social injustice in the world and in particular this country. It’s about peace, revolution and questioning the status quo, definitely not about killing cops. As a matter of fact, “Killing in the Name of” is a song that decries the racist attitudes of police in the inner city who abuse their power and kill out of hate under the guise of ‘the law’.
I like POD too…
I definitely think music can convey emotion and beauty and even God without using words. Ever listen to “Kind of Blue” by Miles?
BuddyO’s last blog post…A Man on a Bridge
Brent, I knew I liked you.
I have never understood why tagging music as “Christian” automatically means to so many that the “Christian” audience must accept it, even if it’s crap – which so much of it is. We so politely tolerate garbage that would NEVER get “mainstream” airplay, even if U2 themselves released it. I think we (in the bubble) feel like rejecting bad music is rejecting the people who share our faith – but overall, it’s a huge disservice to an art form that could do so much more for the Kingdom if we would just expect a little more out of the people who are creating it.
@Amy said: I think we (in the bubble) feel like rejecting bad music is rejecting the people who share our faith…)
I think you have hit it right on here. We are so afraid of people feeling hurt or rejected that we “settle” for mediocrity instead of pushing forward to offer the best that we can in His service.
I just sat through a session at the conference that I am at. It was a guy named Gary Haugen of the International Justice Mission. Please google it and check it out. Amazing!
But he talked about the failure of the modern church to seek excellence and I think it spoke well to this post.
Here are some of his thoughts.
-Christians are not seen as the ones to “go to” for leadership in quality.
-We have spiritualized mediocrity by creating a false payoff between Godliness and excellence.
-Doing is as much about execution as motivation.
-Jesus was intentional in making the connection between love and execution.
-the Christian adjusted scale of mediocrity needs to be destroyed. We need to reset the bar of excellence.
Brent –
I wonder if we’re not attaching too much importance to the label ‘Christian’. What I mean is, when it comes to media I’ve always just viewed at as another category description in the same vein as ‘drama’ or ‘romantic-comedy’ for movies or ‘alt-rock’ or ‘blues’ for music. Like someone already said, it generally lets you know what you’re getting. Is there a better way to describe this category of entertainment or should we just do away with category labels all together i.e. music is just music, movies just movies? While it is somewhat bothersome to have the ‘Christian’ identity usurped as a media label simply calling it ‘religious’ music is too broad and doesn’t accurately describe the niche.
As far as whether or not the ‘Christian’ moniker encourages low quality products, that really is a subjective matter of preference and is true of any media genre. Case in point – the current wave of so-called ‘comedies’ coming out of Hollywood that cater to the lowest common denominator of humor and, in my opinion, don’t represent what I think of when I think great comedy. I don’t think the audience for Christian music is as built in as the Collide article seems to suggest – it seems to me that there is a broader range of musical styles available in the Christian music market than at any other time which means it is appealing, and therefore getting its message out, to more people than ever before. And, some are doing it pretty well….but, that’s just my opinion
Out of curiosity…..several have posted that “so much” of today’s Christian music is “crap”. Would a couple of you be willing to cite examples of what you feel fits in this category and also cite examples of Christian music/artists that you feel are exceptional?
givemejesus’s last blog post…The Joy of Sharing
points very well made! i really like the idea of Christians reseting the bar of excellence…regardless of what area we are talking about…goes back to the whole point you made on “Christian” and how it’s used as a label…
@amy & Hislifeformine – if some musicians realized their music is crappy, we could very well be assisting them in finding what God really created them to do…they would no longer be striving to be something they are not…by not letting them know, we are hindering that process…JUST A THOUGHT?
jon’s last blog post…thankful thursday…
A couple people brought up the idea of supporting (or not supporting) the artist on the basis of his ministry rather than whether or not you enjoy their art (“crap” can be so subjective).
I’ve had folks tell me that they only buy or listen to music where the lyrics were expressly devoted to worshiping God. Well, what about classical and jazz? No offensive lyrics there – no lyrics at all. Wouldn’t that be acceptable? Not unless the artist was a Christian artist who expressly and explicitly used their art to worship God.
Of course, many of the old classical composers looked at their art as being God given and much of their work were examples of worship. Buddy mentioned Miles. Another jazz great, Duke Ellington once said that each of his songs was a personal prayer (although few of his songs were explicitly Christian in nature). But since these artists aren’t stamped “Christian” many people will miss out on some of the most beautiful, God given, works ever performed.
But why do we only seem to have this problem with music, television, movies and books? Shouldn’t we only buy houses from Christian builders? Eat only in Christian restaurants? Drive cars made by Christian auto companies? See only Christian doctors? Is the work of the artist so exalted above that of other laborers?
I love that.
Christian’s last blog post…Stewardess Claims Osteen Gave Her Hemmorhoids While Knocking the Faith Out of Her
@jon – Good thought. I love it that you said “assisting them in finding what God really created them to do.”
If we all stopped pursuing what we thought we were supposed to be doing or wanted to do and really sought the Lord and good counsel can you imagine how all we as parts of the body would work together?
@GMJ You and a couple of others have mentioned the “ease” that having labels gives us in choosing music. I don’t agree with this necessarily. I think the Christian community is too lazy in owning their faith. they believe it, but they don’t know why. They make a stand, but they can’t support it. I know that is a little more intense than the ease of knowing what i am buying, but I think it would be appropriate for us to know what we are buying. get to know the artists, check out the reviews (their are a ton of them). then support what you are willing to support.
Now, when it comes to artists that are good or “crappy”. My main focus when i say crappy is in true quality. there is good and crappy in all facets of music. again it is subjective, but I think that music and other art still show their true colors and I am able to listen to something and determine what level of quality it has. I don’t have specific artists in mind, but things that create quality to me are songwriting/lyrics, musicianship, production, engineering and the ability to do all this live. Too often we think Christian music is good, because the lyrics affect us emotionally. This is not a gauge for quality art. It is only an outcome of experience. Like Buddy said, we are too quickly appreciating music because it has godly lyrics. I have no problem appreciating it for intent, but if it is bad music…it’s bad music.
@Hislifeformine,
this is Biblical. Scripture says to be honest in who we are. not to lie or fake our ability. Some are created for music and some are not. because you do it to his glory, doesn’t make it good music, it makes it worship.
Christian, really good points here. I love all genres of music (well, you can leave out country, but that’s another rant), so it would be a shame to only listen to music labeled Christian.
Your point about buying goods and services from only Christians is good too. Why sequester ourselves from the rest of the world?
(Plus, sometimes I get worried when I do business with other Christians, ’cause I’ve experienced them getting really flaky – looking for special deals, etc, just ’cause they’re a Christian. Come on!)
It shouldn’t be that way, but many times it is!
I must say though, I got pretty excited when I found out that my (already) favorite burger joint, In-N-Out, is a company privately owned by a strong Christian family. There’s even hidden scripture references on most of their paper wrappers and cups. They have a great reputation as a restaurant, an employer, and they are the cheapest place to eat in town for my family of six. It’s good food too!
I hope they inspire many other Christian business persons to be excellent, be fair, and be the best in their field.
Mark’s last blog post…Simon’s Cat ‘TV Dinner’
Yeah, Logio Zoolander (found on my site)exhorted me to check out In and Out Burger when I went out west last month. Great place. (I think Brent endorsed it as well)
It reminded me of another Christian owned chain, Chik-fil-a. Not only do they do a nice job but it’s a pretty good place to work. My daughter’s best friend works at one and they put their money where their Bible is. (That didn’t sound right, did it?)
Christian’s last blog post…Stewardess Claims Osteen Gave Her Hemmorhoids While Knocking the Faith Out of Her
Sorry, no more food. Back to music. (Sigh)
Christian’s last blog post…Stewardess Claims Osteen Gave Her Hemmorhoids While Knocking the Faith Out of Her
In-N-Out rocks!
OK, back to music
Well said! I agree.
great thoughts.
going to read the article now…
carrie-the gremlin wrangler’s last blog post…Very Un-Gremlinlike
No – wait a minute. It’s not just music. How about books and movies. There have been many wonderful Christian writers (or writers who are Christian) Lewis, Chesterton, Sayers, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Tolkien – but what about today’s “Christian” fiction writers? Who do we have that’s really that good?
And movies? Forget about it. I think the best one I’ve seen was “The End of the Spear”. The rest; “Ben Hur”, “The Mission”, “Chariots of Fire” – were secular studio releases. (Let’s not mention “The Ten Commandments”, please)
OK, back to music.
That’s a really cool bear, Christian.
Ok, back to music.
Mark’s last blog post…Simon’s Cat ‘TV Dinner’
I think the Internet has changed the way any product is marketed, and putting any label on a song is marketing strategy.
The radio is still an effective tool to get a song before the public. However with iPods and other music soft-wear(?) we can now create our own “play-list” to listen to. A recommendation in a popular blog will help a song get noticed. I think this may become the primary source for new music in the not to distant future.
A video on You Tube may get more people interested in a song than having it played MTV. Someone posting a link to a song on Twitter can get a song almost as much coverage as it would if played on a radio station.
If we are looking for a song that is appropriate for our children it is better to trust a recommendation from someone we know than a label created as part of some marketing campaign.
Ed’s last blog post…How To Stay Healthy
Mark – sorry for the misquote. what I heard you saying was “you can’t judge the good/badness of music by the music – music itself is amoral, but add lyrics and you can then tell it’s good/badness.
I agree and I don’t. I’m still pondering this. I’m quick to say that ’secular’ lyrics merely reflect the heart of the artist, but then I’m also quick to judge the pablum that passes for lyrics in many ‘christian’ songs…so I’ve got to be fair about this.
Brent – Yes. I was thinking that adding words also doesn’t make the music good/evil. But thinking about it more I guess it does go to motive. Still, to call something ‘good’ or ‘evil’ when it is simply artistic expression. I think the line I want to draw (and I think many are agreeing) is that much of what is passed for ‘christian’ music today is hard to call “art” – it is much more marketing-laden fluff that is designed to sell the music and make the record companies lots of money.
We talk about mainstream/secular artists “selling out” – and I think we mean that we perceive that what started as artistic expression ended up being marketing pablum.
So, my work in progress statement is that ART expressed in any medium is neutral – neither good nor evil, but simply a window into the soul of the artist.
Chew on that for a bit – let’s see where that takes us…
badguy’s last blog post…The Purpose Driven Blog
Christian industry is a direct result of American ‘Safe Theology’. When Darby and the like came up with ‘pre-trib’ eschatology a 100 years ago or so, they started a snowball effect of separatism that continues to grow a wider gap.
We have a massive contingency of safe theology in America, that I think the rising generations are tired of and I believe we will be able to shed in the next 50 years. but like pulling of a band aid, it will hurt a bit.
vince’s last blog post…What the World is Saying
Of course, all my opinion and include only those who are labeled ‘Christian’. It does not include the many great (and crappy) artists who market in the mainstream and are also Christian.
Exceptional:
- Waterdeep
- Delirious
- Phil Keaggy
- Skillet
- Switchfoot
- Derek Webb
- Lincoln Brewster
- Robert Randoloph
- Barlow Girl
- Plumb
Bad:
- Carman
- Ray Boltz
- Whoever that guy is who wrote that song about witnessing on the airplane.
- Maranatha Praise Band
- Bill Itzel (dude I saw at Baseball Game ‘Faith Night’)
- Petra
- Rich Mullins
- Any of those story songs ala ‘Christmas Shoes’
Damn, Buddy. Can’t you let the dead rest? I’m no fan of his (nor any of the “exceptional” ones you mentioned – just not my speed) but I don’t think you can stick Mullins in with that group. Just not to your taste.
But c’mon- even the ‘good’ ones; so many of them all keep playing each others same old 4 verse songs – all those hand wavers (I know, that was me once). At least that’s what it sounds like on the radio. And in concert, btw.
“Safe Theology” great name. And taking it back to Darby – how sadly true.
Christian’s last blog post…Evolving Christians: Is Darwin Really the Enemy of Faith?
Does marketing on independent labels (refusing to go the CCM route) count?
Exceptional:
Glenn Kaiser/GKB
Maron
Phil Keaggy
The Lee Boys
Darrell Mansfield
Derek Webb
Third Day
The 77s
The Lost Dogs
Daniel Amos
Mark Heard
Keith Green
Larry Norman
Mylon LeFevre & Broken Heart
Jennifer Knapp
Charlie Peacock
Randy Stonehill
David Crowder Band
Psalters
John Michael Talbot
I’ll skip the bad ones for now…
badguy’s last blog post…Random Thoughts
RE: Mullins
enough said….
Mullins is an amazing songwriter, but the use of this song “God is an Awesome God” speaks HUGE to this whole post.
Mullins is known for that song, cause the church made it “popular”. It is an inspirational song, but not a great piece of art. Unfortunately it is held as a standard for Mullins and others. That’s where we as Christians have failed in this. We feel good about something and then hold certain things to standards they shouldn’t be held to. Rich wrote that song for use in his local church. That’s cool. But then to make that a standard for Christian art is a mistake and wrong.
Oh. He wrote THAT? Well nobody’s perfect. I used to like “My Redeemer Lives”. Very peppy.
Christian’s last blog post…Evolving Christians: Is Darwin Really the Enemy of Faith?
Uhh… that’s Nicole C. Mullins not Rich Mullins…
You don’t like it anymore?
BuddyO’s last blog post…Motörhead Fans are a Bunch of Softies (who knew?)
No, it’s Rich Mullins – I had it on an album “somebody else sings Ragamuffin Songs” by Rich Mullins or something like that. Apparently it was his last album that never made it to studio. Wouldn’t be too surprised that their are two Christian songs with the same name. Kind of a limited subject matter. (Unless she is related to him?)
Gosh, Buddy. I haven’t listened to any “Christian” music in so long. I got burned out on it. Occasionally some Bryan Duncan because he sounds ’secular’ (you turned me on to him but I know you only like that one album). Now if I want something ’spiritual’ I’ll go to classical or maybe the soundtrack to the “Mission”. (GREAT movie by the way. Just saw it again after 15 years or so.)
Christian’s last blog post…Evolving Christians: Is Darwin Really the Enemy of Faith?
Nope. I was wrong. It’ “My Deliverer” not “My Redeemer”. Funny though, I’ve never heard “My Redeemer” and it’s by ANOTHER Mullins ?!
Hmm. Coincidence? Or….?
Christian’s last blog post…Evolving Christians: Is Darwin Really the Enemy of Faith?
For the record, Nicole C. is Mull-EN not Mull-INS.
Rich Mullins can’t have been all bad – didn’t he die on a motorcycle?
badguy’s last blog post…Random Thoughts
Hey, I said “in my opinion”…
Keaggy on the other hand is one of the best acoustic guitarists I’ve ever seen and master of the loop pedal.
Have you ever seen this:
Salvation Army Band
Give yourself time, it’s like 9 minutes of acoustic awesomeness…
Seen him live a couple times. The first time I saw him (a couple years ago) I had no idea what looping was – thought he was using a pre-recorded track or something.
He is definitely in my ‘top 5′ of all time guitarists.
badguy’s last blog post…Random Thoughts
Jimi Hendrix once said in an interview when asked who the best guitarist in the world was, he said go talk to Phil Keaggy.
What ever happened to that 80’s Christian hair band Quest? They had some catchy riffs and lyrics.
We’ve really started to try to get away from advertising the band as “Christian” because it really limits the amount of opportunities we get to get out and play. It still is the main focus of what and who we are but we’ve included more “secular” songs with good lyrical content and tweaked some lyrics in order to put them in the set.
When I get asked what kind of music we play I usually say lyrically correct.
I like the the term “Christ follower” that CK used earlier because I fear that Christians in general have a lot of recovering to do in order to give that name the credibility it deserves.
Oh, and don’t forget Toby Mac’s band on the exceptional list
Some other exceptional Christian musicians/bands:
Salvador
Ceili Rain
Thousand Foot Krutch
Kerry Livgren/Kansas
Burlap to Cashmere
Big Tent Revival
Newsboys
Caedmons Call
Ricky Scaggs
Ashley Cleveland
I have been saying the exact thing for years. Only now are people starting to figure it out. But that’s no surprise because “Christians” are usually the last ones to figure anything out. They are just a bunch of stupid sheep. Not my words, but the words of Jesus!
And I am so sick of the term “Christian Band.” What that translates to is this: “We are a bunch of posers who want to rip off ’secular’ bands, and their artistry (ie; chord progressions, music style, etc…) and put our preaching into it. Then promote it as our own and shop it to a bunch of clueless Christian record companies who have never heard the original artists we ripped off.”
It makes me sick, and they are still just a bunch of lost sheep following after someone else. Get over it people, start writing your own material. Stop preaching to the choir, and get out there and hit the real world. Then start playing with the big boys and maybe, just maybe they will listen to your message. Grow up and become leaders rather than followers. And stop buying CD’s from the Christian Labels, it only supports the madness…end of rant!!!