Christian music a hit

The growth and impact of Christian entertainment has made a believer out of a leading newsmagazine.

According to the latest issue of Newsweek, contemporary Christian music, or CCM, is "now the hottest genre in the entire music industry," generating millions of dollars in record sales and spawning the first-ever Christian alternative-rock tour, "Festival Con Dios."

The cover story – featuring the headline, "Jesus Rocks! Christian Entertainment Makes a Joyful Noise" – says "with big best sellers, new movies and religious rock, the $3 billion Christian entertainment industry is exploding."

"We're experiencing what alternative music experienced – it starts as this small thing and blows up," Newsboys singer Peter Furler says. "To me this is the underground right now, know what I mean? Now you have big record companies involved 'cause they're sniffing at the bucks. But we know that. We're not stupid. We know they're not trying to promote the name of Christ."

The massive Newsweek report says "alternative rock is just one pillar in the gigantic cathedral of Christian entertainment." It spans from the popular "Left Behind" novels, which sold 28.8 million copies, to the Grammy-winning singer Steven Curtis Chapman, who helped pack in 50,000 at the Freedom Live festival in Tulsa, Okla., last week. Additionally, the children's animated video series "Veggie Tales" has sold 22 million videos. As Christian retailers meet for their annual convention in Atlanta this week, trade industry officials say Christian product sales exceeded $4 billion in 2000, Religion News Service reported.

"This gospel-fueled fun is now a booming business and a cornerstone of American culture," Newsweek observes. "So why didn't you hear the hoofbeats of its thunderous approach? Because so much of this energy fails to register on the seismographs of mainstream industry and media, the ruling parties that tend to dismiss Christian entertainment as too marginal ever to outgrow its niche position."

The magazine noted that "the largely evangelical industry has created its own parallel world anyway, a place where popular art and culture are filtered through a conservative Christian lens and infused with messages of faith."

"The heavenly ring of cash registers has finally grown so loud that major publishers (including Warner Books) have started Christian-book divisions, and independent gospel-based labels are being snapped up by such corporate giants as Sony and Universal."

Newsweek further notes: "You don't have to care about music to see that the subculture of Christian rock, with its marketing strategies, ecclesiastical messages and devoted fans, sheds light on a fascinating sector of American life."

The magazine focused much of its attention on CCM. The genre sold $747 million last year – 7 percent of the overall sales in the American music industry. The magazine says: "To put that in perspective: for every 10 country-music albums sold, seven Christian CDs fly off the shelf. CCM sales were double those of U.S. Latin music last year and topped the combined numbers of jazz, classical and New Age."

But Newsweek says: "It took more than prayer to revitalize the industry. Starting in the early '90s, its artists began borrowing from more relevant styles of music and fashion to promote their words of praise. Conveying those lyrics in the catchiest ways is now the main goal. It's all part of an evangelical oral tradition to spread the gospel."

Reprinted with permission of Strang Communications.

Interested in Christian music and entertainment? Visit AgapeMusic.com.