THE STATE OF OUR GOSPEL

MUSIC INDUSTRY

A plea for our executives to save the artists and for our artists to save the executives

By James Walker, Esq., Walker and Associates, JW Consulting

We are witnessing career assassinations of many brothers and sisters who helped build this gospel industry over the past 15 years.

Let's look at the last few years of "our Industry" and the changes in leadership as we became a billion-dollar industry that corporate America now wants to profit from.

EMI's Shawn Tate, one of the classiest guys and one of the most brilliant marketing minds in the industry, single-handedly helps build the EMI Gospel company to its current success, including great marketing work on Tri-City Singers & Donald Lawrence, Smokey Norful and Darwin Hobbs, to name a few. Tate is gone, shown the door.

Jerry Mannery helps build Malaco Records and a slew of great gospel artists, including Mississippi Mass, Dorothy Norwood, Men of Standard and The Caravans, to mention a few. Mannery is no longer with the company. (Reportedly he resigned, but after what he built how could a company not offer the house to keep him?)

Vicki Mack-Lataillade, a creative genius, builds, arguably, the most successful gospel label ever in Gospo Centric bringing us the likes of Kirk Franklin, Tri-ni-tee 3:5:7 and Kurt Carr. She merges or sells her company to Zomba a year or two ago and today is no longer with Gospo Centric. (Reportedly her contract was not renewed and she has until the end of the year to leave.).

Monica Coates, a young, rising star at Verity, who worked on various great albums, including those of Richard Smallwood, Twinkie Clark and Donnie McClurkin, is strangely no longer with the company. No one knows the whole story.

Jackie Patillo introduces us to Israel, Lisa McClendon and Stephen Hurd while heading up A&R at Integrity, but she's now with Zomba. How could Integrity not create an environment that keeps this diamond-in-the-rough and beautiful Godly being?

Tara Griggs-Magee, aside from Demetrus Stewart, is, arguably, the most talented of several female executives to be terminated. There are widespread allegations and rumors that not only was she let go by Sony Urban, but she was escorted out of the building with security and no one has heard anything from her in recent weeks or in terms of her future career steps.

Lastly, Max Siegel, after helping the label by any means necessary build Verity to a gospel powerhouse, shockingly announces his retirement to go work with the Dale Earnhart race car companies -- very strange and unexplainable to many.

And, even further, while one of the most respected and most talented Gospel Industry execs, Jazzy Jordan, leaves then returns to Verity, we are told in a press release, "There will be no President at this time of Verity."

And, let's not overlook Ms. Brenda J. Culpepper (of CT) and her pioneering to bring us the East Coast Mass Choir and early works of Kirk Franklin, John P. Kee and LeCresia Campbell and how the industry has overlooked her talents for years. She should be running Verity right now. Or even Telisa Stinson, who created Men of Standard, and the list goes on and on. All and all, these firings, resignations, departures or whatever you want to call them, really pain me, first as a gospel music lover, but then scare me as it appears our Black gospel music may be controlled by corporate giants now who have no connection to the very people who developed the music.

According to Nielsen SoundScan, gospel music sales experienced a double-digit percent increase. As of July of 2006, nearly 18 million gospel music albums, including those sold on the Internet, were purchased by consumers placing millions of dollars into the corporate bank accounts of these major companies. So, we must wake up and realize that in five years, the Gospel music industry could be as big as other genres and make even more billions for the corporations. In this new millennium, gospel music, like hip-hop, will become big business, controlled by bean counters and corporate titans who have no idea of The Reason Why We Sing.

Sony will control Verity, Gospo Centric, Sony Urban (if still there), and all of the Zomba gospel companies, a total of nearly 60%-65% of the market share and billboard charts. In a billion dollar industry, it’s scary to see one company have this much dominance and control AND see a loss of Black execs. Given all of the moves, I pray first for all of the executives mentioned above as examples.

Second, I challenge the execs who are still able to release the debt of the gospel artists--turn over your masters and do whatever to empower the artists before your departure. Let the artists out of this corporate circle that they never planned for when signing with a small Verity or Gospo Centric. None of these artists could have foreseen these mergers and the corporate gorilla they now work for and are signed to for five-seven plus LONG years.

Third, I urge the gospel music community to call a summit or meeting to discuss the serious plight of our industry and get a game plan to preserve our jobs, our music and our future. It is critical that we unite now and call a private, closed-door meeting to discuss the state of our industry and how we can maintain control of our music, the direction of our industry and the overall ministry of gospel music as it goes forth.

Look carefully at what happened in hip-hop, music from the street with DJs and rap artists selling music out of their trunk and maintaining its authenticity and integrity, now controlled by corporations who will allow violence, drugs and material glamorization to permeate our Black music stations and communities. As a result, our children, instead of hearing Al Greene and Marvin Gaye, are given messages of "Get Rich or Die Trying," "I'm A Playa," "It's All About the Benjamin’s” and "F*** The Police."

If we do not do something now, the risk is that all consciousness could be lost in our Gospel Music and it will merely be controlled by big corporate businesses with no intention of saving souls and Changing Lives or employing people that truly live and believe in The Gospel. n