Do Christian Singers Have an Unfair Edge on American Idol?

July 14, 2009 - PRLog -- As MTV reported before Kris Allen won this season’s American Idol, more than half of the finalists either had strong affiliations with the church or were worship leaders (like Allen) in their communities. In fact, Allen was not the first winner who carried the “Christian” mantle.  Jordan Sparks, American Idol’s 2007 winner, had a background in gospel and Christian music. The show also helped launch other avowed Christians Chris Daughtry, who has gained a strong following thanks to his spiritually-inclined lyrics, as well as Mandisa, whose 8th place finish at American Idol led to a recording contract with a major Christian label and a book deal, as well as appearances on the largest Christian women’s conference in the U.S.   Do Christians have an edge when it comes to musical talents?

“They have edge because they have experience,” says Wendell Gafford, a 15-year Christian radio veteran and president of Christian Artist Resources.  “Church choirs and worship bands across the country give anyone with an inkling of talent a great platform to learn music, hone their voice and ultimately, step out into the spotlight.”

Christian/gospel recorded music sales are over a half a billion annually, according to the Gospel Music Association.  In 2008, over 56 million units of Christian/gospel CDs, cassettes, digital albums and digital tracks were sold.  But as with all music genres, Christian music has seen a decline in sales and major record labels have struggled to stay afloat.  On the other hand, independent artists continue to do well since they are not under contract with labels and typically own 100% of their own music. Gafford has been promoting radio singles for both signed and unsigned artists the past several years, and has seen a trend that benefits the independent artist.

“Over 25% of our top 20 national Inspirational radio singles have been with independent artists,” says Gafford.  “The playing field has become more level for indie artists to compete with ‘signed’ artists.”

Gafford’s company recently started an Artist Mentoring Program designed to teach “indies” different aspects of the music industry including booking, radio promotions, publicity, retail distribution, and many other subject areas.  Gafford says once-a-year conventions are great tools, but they are often hit-or-miss for most artists.  Independent artists spend a lot of money to travel to gatherings in order to network with industry executives, only to get limited time or none at all with top-level people.

“The music industry is changing so fast that a once-a-year event just doesn’t help many artists.  These artists don’t have the benefit of personal managers and they need the consistent training this program will offer them.  Our goal is to give artists current ideas and information that they can implement immediately in their careers.”

The Artist Mentoring Program is offering a free session on Thursday, August 6 at 8:00 pm EST.  Special guest for the free session will be American Idol songwriting winner, Scott Krippayne.  His song, "THIS IS MY NOW," beat out 25,000 other entries as the fan's choice to be performed by the American Idol finalists. It quickly became a successful radio single for Jordin Sparks. Krippayne has achieved multiple # 1 songs both as an artist and songwriter over the course of his career.

For further information, visit: www.ChristianArtistResources.com

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