The Change Mariner

Christian Music's New Wave

The New York Times:

Sales of praise and worship albums have doubled since 2000, to about 12 million in 2003. While music sales over all slumped last year, including Christian music in general, worship music was up 5 percent. A series of CD's marketed on television by Time-Life, "Songs 4 Worship," has drawn a million subscribers and sold about 8 million CD's since 2000.

Several Christian pop stars, including Michael W. Smith, Newsboys and Third Day, have recently recorded worship albums, often to the biggest successes of their careers.

"What's selling now is compilations and praise and worship," said John W. Styll, president of the Gospel Music Association in Nashville. For this music, he added, "Church is the new radio. It's where people learn about songs, and how songwriters get compensated.

...

Her enthusiasm mirrors national trends among college students, according to surveys by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. Last fall, 13.4 percent of freshmen identified themselves as evangelical Christians, up from 4.5 percent in 1990.

...

"It was underground, but now it's just exploded," he said. "The Internet connects all these smaller subcultural units. For us, a small band in Waco, it disseminated our songs all over the world."

Posted by Jennifer King at April 17, 2004 12:09 PM | TrackBack
Related Categories: Industry - Entertainment - Music | Quadrant - Social | Theme - 'Digital Impact'

Songs 4 Worship: Shout to The Lord
Time Life Records

Amazon Price: $16.99

Songs 4 Worship: Be Glorified
Time Life Records

Amazon Price: $19.98

Songs 4 Worship: Holy Ground
Time Life Records

Amazon Price: $19.98

Songs 4 Worship Platinum
Time Life Records

Amazon Price: $19.98