danielbritt.com

As most of the other participants have already acknowledged, there was a summit of sorts in Asheville, NC on Friday.

I was a part of it; so were Mr. Averyfineline, Douglas Harrison; Mr. Musicscribe, David Bruce Murray; Mr. SouthernGospelBlog, Daniel J. Mount; from Crossroads: Mickey Gamble, Chris White, Jim Stover, and Scott Wagner; from Vine: Kevin Ward and Wayne Haun.

It was 1) a good dialogue of ideas, both from the record industry reps and from us guests and 2) filled with examples of how the business really works and what is really going on in the current state of the genre.

Key points, rhetoricals, and topics that I took away (although not necessarily in agreement with them all) include the following:

-Record companies are the financiers of the industry and are often last in line to get paid

-Song writers are, probably, the most important piece to the S.G. puzzle

-Without good songs to sing, the best singers in the world are (for the most part) useless

-Most albums today are filled with filler instead of outstanding songs; this is due to how often a new record is churned out, and lack of artist direction by the record companies

-Suggested changes to the album problem: let a record last for longer than 18months and only record songs that are individually, stand-alone hits in their own right; or, if you must record a new project more often, only cut a handful of GREAT songs that can receive the proper amount of dedication (read: spend more $$ on a few good songs than spreading your budget out over more tunes).

-Radio needs to play more currents to better the industry

-There may be no compelling reason to convince radio to play more currents, unless the audience absolutely demands it or ad revenue rates increase as a result of it

-There are almost no major market radio outlets representing S.G.

-There is a cashola/payola case currently being taken care of in S.G.

-Chart reform is necessary

-Performers need more "candy" to offer the fans of today's "A.D.D.-give-me-more-more-more culture"

-Gaither did not necessarily revive a "dying" industry in the early 90's

-The industry was not necessarily "dying" in the early 90's

-Gaither is a great example of quality; his success is based on quality; no one can deny it

-Gaither's success benefits Gaither more than it benefits the genre as a whole

-SoundScan monitors sales from major retailers

-SoundScan prohibits monitoring of record table sales in church settings

-Most groups appear to care less about retail (other than their own record sales)

-Good ministry is achieved best when there is good business

-If you're into ministry only and don't care about anything else (quality, business, popularity, etc.), then stay out of the business side altogether. Go minister, get your eyes off the $$, keep your calls away from radio, and don't hire a producer to enhance your sound

-Don't go 7 hours in a meeting with record company execs without taking a bathroom break

-The Southern Gospel feast is spread over a long, long table and there is room enough for you (if you sing correctly, hopefully)

-Good is usually subjective when speaking of music (e.g. Inspirations, Russ Taff, and Cynthia Clawson are all good singers; they sing notes well and can follow a beat. The fact that you may not like one sound over another doesn't make them bad, just different)

-I related S.G. to Polka. There isn't enough demand to warrant an individual radio format for their sub-genres. In other words, to create a Bluegrass S.G. format to please those fans, a quartet S.G. format to please those fans, and a progressive S.G. format to please those fans would be great, but I just don't think the marketplace would support them individually. One industry-ite admitted to being treated (albeit professionally) like "Polka" when representing Southern Gospel to the larger music community

-If S.G. were not as varied as it is, however, would it appeal to as many (different kinds of) people?

There was more, but for now, this is what comes to mind. Again, check David Bruce Murray, Averyfineline, and Daniel J. Mount for more perspectives on the summit.

-Daniel

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