Why does Christian music suck?
How does a market of 2.3 billion generate this level of quality of music?
Does Christian music suck? Is there something wrong with Christian music?
That is a matter of opinion. This writer would answer Christian Music doesn’t suck but the selection the Christian music industry is making music that does suck available to the market is no doubt stagnant and repetitive. Like Josh Keefe and many others have pointed out it’s the same sound, same BMPs (beats per minute) and virtually the same words repeated over and over. Listen to Josh’s critique below which is spot on in this author’s opinion.
This writer would say the predominant issue with Christian music would be simply money. It requires money to make music. Money makes the world go-round. If you don’t think so and all we need is faith, just don’t pass the offering plate at church for a month and see how long the power stays on in the building. That sounds cynical. Forgive me, but you should understand my point.
No matter how you slice it, the music industry is about making money. The Christian music genre is no different. Perhaps if the industry focused on quality Christian music that focused on lifting-up Jesus Christ in spirit and truth, so people could be drawn to Him, wouldn’t you think God’s people would be faithful to support it? Apparently not, because the industry seems to be stuck using the same music mold because its easy to produce formula.
Have we not learned from the rise of Crowder that mixing musical genres can be successful? Who would have thought that throwing a banjo in with a digital loop would make an interesting and popular song? Or a synth with scratching a washboard? You cannot deny that it worked and propelled David Crowder to a higher status musically because he took the risk to follow inspiration instead of the industry norm. What shocks me more is that the industry has not cranked out more Crowder-type artists with long beards and trucker hats playing a ukulele to a dub-beat while wearing plaid and white hi-top shoes. This isn’t mocking Crowder, because he has his signature look, but it’s the norm of the music industry to imitate and reproduce in mass quantities. Individuality! What a concept!
This writer will go further to say the reason Christian music sucks is because people don’t support Christian music, not even Christians. Independent artists know exactly what we’re talking about. It’s hard to get people to show up to performances and even harder to get people to buy the music. Why buy an album when you can go to YouTube and listen to it for free?
It’s a common thread that most people in the US don’t like the government and think its corrupt, but none the less, they vote in the same people into office every year. The fans can impact change in the music industry but simply choose to not vote with their wallets or their voices. In the US, there are over 230 million professing Christians (roughly) but in 2014 there was only 17 million dollars (approximately) in Christian album sales. Can you not see the disconnect? Do we need to do the math per person? That’s 7 cents if you divided that among all Americans who claim to be Christian in 2014. Every year the amount of album sales just keeps getting smaller. Click on the link below to see the downward trend since 2008.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/188910/us-music-album-sales-by-genre-2010/
Remember my not passing the plate analogy? Perhaps if the fans spent more money on these artists, they wouldn’t have to focus on writing crossover lyrics to make their music appealing to a wider audience. Instead of focusing on appealing to the masses they could focus on worshiping and performing for the biggest audience of One and pointing the masses to Him.
But, let’s face the fact that we all have our preferences. Fans of Lecrae and Demon Hunter are probably not going to see or hear these two artists sharing the same stage or radio station. But why not? Are we afraid of musical cross contamination? As a performing artist and as a fan, some of the best shows this writer has performed and seen are mixed genre shows. There’s something for everyone! The closest you are going to see this type of lineup is Winter-Jam or a few select Christian music festivals.
But typically the genres are going to be skewed heavily in one direction or another to whatever is popular at the time. Again, the same stagnant market of what you hear on Christian radio. Christians, out of all the people groups of the world, should be embracing diversity, more especially in the music category. If you are a believer and think just only CCM or Southern Gospel is in Heaven’s juke box, one day you will be very surprised.
Revelation 7:9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
If you are one of those people that thinks Christian music sucks, my question to you is .. what are you doing about it? Have you called to your local station and asked them to play something different? Have you called in to request another artist? Heaven forbid, have you called to request that they play some independent music?
With 2 billion Christians in the world with about 50 Christian music labels, we could easily make our voices heard. But you are going to have to spend more than 7 cents per year to make it happen. Streaming helps but its pennies to the artist. Albums sales are dollars. Physical album sales are even better. Buying the merch helps fund tours and the next album.
There are plenty of good Christian artists out there in multiple genres. Unfortunately, you just must make the effort to find them. The best part is that the Christian independent music community supports its own typically. Support them and request them in your market. Otherwise you going to be getting the same songs in your ears for years to come. Only the Christian music fans can turn this around by voting with your wallet and your voice! But I could be wrong, but that’s just my perspective from the bottom end.