Friday, October 27, 2006
The For-Profit "Church"
I am not at all sure how to react to this LATimes piece from a couple of weeks ago on the "Christian" music industry and pirating. Pirating is stealing, but this blurs the line between ministry and business just a little more than I am comfortable with. I do like the fact that the gospel music people working on voluntary compliance rather than the lawsuit happy methods employed by the more mainstream recording industry, but it still strikes me that they are relying too heavily on the fruit of their own labor and not the blessings of the Lord in whose Name they offer their music.
In the first place, the entertainment business in general makes way more money than other business. Fact one: In that business you sell exactly the same product over and over. Unlike automobiles or home building, or whatever, the artist does not record the song each time it is sold, no they sell the same recording. The cost of production is not attached to each unit sold, only a tiny, tiny fraction is. For a hot seller, the cost of production is negligible. Second fact: in the days of digital download, the cost of distribution is almost nil. Back in the days of records and retail, it cost a great deal to get a record to the market place, shipping, etc. But in this day and age, all it takes is a bank of servers. Again, this cost ends up being negligible for a decent seller.
What is different is capturing market - it is much harder to get noticed to in any appreciable sense because the loss of power for the former gatekeepers (radio and the former distribution system) means something on the market does not automatically sell.
I say all that simply because what is really happening is the entertainment business is having to compete for the first time like the rest of us have since the beginnings of capitalism, and their response is not to learn how to compete, but to whine and complain and attempt to restore their almost monopolistic, extraordinarily high profit margin business models. Which, by the way, has made them very lazy at cost control. Given such, when I start hearing this stuff from the music industry, I just have a hard time mustering much in the way of sympathy.
Now to get into the Christian part. One's life is ministry from my perspective. That's the nature of being a Christian, we simply are ambassadors for Christ, regardless of our profession. Within that framework, some are called out to devote themselves exclusively to the institutions that attempt to continue God's work here on Earth. Part of what happens when such people are called out is that when it comes to their livelihood they no longer have the assurances and security offered by the world of commerce. Inclusive of that calling is a total reliance on the blessings of the Lord to provide for their material security. For certain, that material security becomes secondary to that to which they are called.
Paul sets the example:
As "Chirstian" becomes a brand and a market demographic, we stand to lose genuine faith. Market share and profitability are not measures of the success of the gospel, or even our success as ministers thereof.
Related Tags: Christian music, industry, ministry, compensation, entitlement
In the first place, the entertainment business in general makes way more money than other business. Fact one: In that business you sell exactly the same product over and over. Unlike automobiles or home building, or whatever, the artist does not record the song each time it is sold, no they sell the same recording. The cost of production is not attached to each unit sold, only a tiny, tiny fraction is. For a hot seller, the cost of production is negligible. Second fact: in the days of digital download, the cost of distribution is almost nil. Back in the days of records and retail, it cost a great deal to get a record to the market place, shipping, etc. But in this day and age, all it takes is a bank of servers. Again, this cost ends up being negligible for a decent seller.
What is different is capturing market - it is much harder to get noticed to in any appreciable sense because the loss of power for the former gatekeepers (radio and the former distribution system) means something on the market does not automatically sell.
I say all that simply because what is really happening is the entertainment business is having to compete for the first time like the rest of us have since the beginnings of capitalism, and their response is not to learn how to compete, but to whine and complain and attempt to restore their almost monopolistic, extraordinarily high profit margin business models. Which, by the way, has made them very lazy at cost control. Given such, when I start hearing this stuff from the music industry, I just have a hard time mustering much in the way of sympathy.
Now to get into the Christian part. One's life is ministry from my perspective. That's the nature of being a Christian, we simply are ambassadors for Christ, regardless of our profession. Within that framework, some are called out to devote themselves exclusively to the institutions that attempt to continue God's work here on Earth. Part of what happens when such people are called out is that when it comes to their livelihood they no longer have the assurances and security offered by the world of commerce. Inclusive of that calling is a total reliance on the blessings of the Lord to provide for their material security. For certain, that material security becomes secondary to that to which they are called.
Paul sets the example:
1 Cor 9:11-19 - If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we should reap material things from you? If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share with the altar? So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel. But I have used none of these things. And I am not writing these things that it may be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than have any man make my boast an empty one. For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more.In the end, I guess that is where I am bothered by this article, not that they are making a living from "spreading the Word" (although whether Christian music qualifies for that category, I have my doubts), but that they demand that living, and that they feel somehow entitled to it.
As "Chirstian" becomes a brand and a market demographic, we stand to lose genuine faith. Market share and profitability are not measures of the success of the gospel, or even our success as ministers thereof.
Related Tags: Christian music, industry, ministry, compensation, entitlement
