The Death of the Christian Music Industry…

Earlier this summer, Tyler Huckabee wrote about the apparent tanking of the CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) industry in an article titled Who killed the contemporary Christian music industry? Fascinating look at the trend with lots of great details of changes since the 90s.

That article stuck with me because frankly, CCM has become more or less rote, sounding the same and following the same formula.

Then somewhere along the way I read a quote (which I can no longer locate or correctly attribute) that was along the lines of:
What we need are fewer Christian musicians, and more musicians that are Christian…

I hope you caught the distinction between the two. And I could not agree more.

We don’t need to have a genre that speaks only for one small niche, and only believers at that. We don’t need churches that only preach to their own people. (We’ve got an unfortunate abundance of both already, thankyouverymuch.) And CCM created the very niche that’s leading to their demise.

But what we could use are musicians–or artists of any kind–that make quality art that reflect real life and real faith.

Take, for example, the following lyrics from the band that my teenage daughter recently turned me on to (Twenty One Pilots):
I do not know why I would go
In front of you and hide my soul
Cause you’re the only one who knows it,
Yeah you’re the only one who knows it

And I will hide behind my pride
Don’t know why I think I can lie
Cause there’s a screen on my chest
Yeah there’s a screen on my chest

I’m standing in front of you
I’m standing in front of you
I’m trying to be so cool
Everything together trying to be so cool

(and later in the song)

We’re broken
We’re broken
We’re broken
We’re broken people, oh.
We’re broken people, oh.

No, Twenty One Pilots is not a Christian band. (Nor are there 21 people in the band, and I doubt whether either of the guys are pilots…). But the members of the band are/have been Christians….and there’s more depth to their music than many CCM songs. AND they are reaching far beyond the walls of the church.

So, as for the demise of CCM, so be it. It is well with my soul.

Earlier this summer, Tyler Huckabee wrote about the apparent tanking of the CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) industry in an article titled Who killed the contemporary Christian music industry? Fascinating look at the trend with lots of great details of changes since the 90s. That article stuck with me because frankly, CCM has become more or less…