The Christian music industry, often perceived as separate, is heavily controlled by major secular music conglomerates, impacting its content, licensing, and artistic integrity. This corporate influence has led to a homogenization of Christian music, prioritizing profitability and safety over deeper theological expression and artistic authenticity.
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The mistake that most Christians make
about the Christian music industry is
that it's separate from the regular
music industry when that can't be
farther from the truth. In fact, the
vast majority of the Christian music
industry's market share is controlled by
labels owned by the top three major
global music conglomerates. Universal
Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment,
and Warner Music Group. These three
conglomerates own both the biggest
Christian music labels and the biggest
secular music labels of pretty much any
genre. This means that the same major
music conglomerates that own the labels
for Chris Tomlin, Toby Mack, and Lauren
Dagel are the same ones that own the
labels for Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and
Cardi B. And this isn't just the case
with CCM alone, but it's the same with
worship music, too. Side note, CCM is a
genre that has a bunch of subg genres
underneath it. Praise and worship music
happens to be a very popular subgenre
underneath CCM. And even though there's
a lot of overlap between CCM and praise
and worship, they're technically their
own genres. There are a lot of CCM
artists that make praise and worship
songs and praise and worship artists who
make CCM songs. So, there's a lot of
blending there. And because of that, I'm
going to use the terms interchangeably.
And I will make some distinctions as
much as I can. CCM is just the whole
genre. Pop, rock, hip-hop, whatever. As
long as it's Christian, it kind of fits
there. Worship music is defined with a
purpose. [music]
Songs written to be sung in worship to
God and not just about him. Let's talk
Anytime a church wants to publicly play
licensed worship songs or display lyrics
on screens or make song sheets or stream
worship songs, every year they have to
pay for a Christian copyright licensing
international license, also known as
CCLI. It's the main license that lets
you legally use popular worship songs
during services. This includes songs
like In Christ Alone, 10,000 Reasons,
and Waymaker. And pretty much every song
from Elevation, Chris Tomlin, Bethl,
Hill Song, Phil Wickham, etc., etc. You
have to pay for them. Furthermore, when
churches pay their yearly CCLI fee,
about half the money goes back to those
three conglomerates, which are the same
corporate entities who also own the
licensing for songs such as Cardi B's
Lil Nas X Montero, Doaat Demons,
and other demonically inspired
jinglejangles. And this is why some
Christians feel like churches are
unknowingly supporting and fueling the
machine that benefits from the crap that
we try to keep from our children's ears.
Those same Christians are usually in
favor of traditional hymns because
almost no traditional hymns require a
CCLI license. Since the songs are public
domain and none of the money goes back
to the evil corporate overlords, it
seems to be a better choice. I'm sure
there's a pro-CLI license argument out
there. I'm just not aware of it. If you
want to sort that out in the comments,
feel free. But keep in mind that this is
an open-handed issue and not worth
dividing over. So don't be a jerk. [music]
Now, Google defined CCM as customer
communic. Now, Wikipedia defines CCM as
contemporary Christian music that is
lyrically focused on matters related to
the Christian faith. And it seems like
everything I research online points to
the fact that lyrical content is the
only differentiator between Christian
music and secular music, which doesn't
make sense because a lot of bands who
are considered Christian lack the
lyrical content to place them in that
category. So what ultimately happens is
we have people who say that they're
Christian. They'll play music and
somehow by default they're labeled a
Christian artist even if the lyrical
content isn't there. This happened all
the time in the '9s and the 2000s. In
fact, some of my favorite Christian
bands growing up and some of the most
popular ones had no Christian lyrical
content and yet they were build as
Christian bands. Mainly because people
didn't care about overtly Christian
lyrics. As long as the lyrics were clean
and the person singing them had a
morally upright life, then we're pretty
much good to go. This is a list of names
that help financially support the
YouTube channel over on my Patreon.
[music] And this is me showing my
gratitude. Thank you. Thank you for
making my dreams come true. Sorry.
[clears throat] Uh back to the video.
Now, I'm not trying to get into the uh
definition game here. But it's like,
what is a Christian artist?
>> A Christian artist is somebody who is a
Christian that has Christian values,
Christian ideologies, and a Christian
mission. Because as a Christian, you
want to do things that Christians do
like evangelize and point people to Christ.
Christ. >> Obviously,
>> Obviously,
>> if your mission in life is to take
something, say your art and communicate
a Christian message, then you should do
what Jesus says, right? Like share the
gospel, lead people to eternal
salvation. We should have a burden for
that as Christians. But, you know, there
are so many different Christian bands
that are like, you know, we we are a
Christian band. We're on the radio, but
we don't die on any hills. we don't
really share our theology. We don't
really talk about Christ much in our
music. And they're like, we we just want
to inspire people, you know, inspire
people to do what. I mean, if you just
want to inspire people, whatever that
means, why do you have to be on
Christian radio to do that? Just do that
in the mainstream secular space. I'm not
sure why, but there are so many
different artists who decided to go the
Christian radio route when they probably
shouldn't have. And even though we would
sing these songs and support the bands,
we would never know their theological
positions because they were so vague
about it. I'm sorry. This is the
craziest stock footage I've ever found.
I think there's so much going on here.
Okay, so I'm running out of B-roll and
now you're going to watch me make a
pizza [cough] in Runescape. Hello
everyone. Welcome to Runescape. As I was
saying, now I'm not suggesting we should
break down everybody's theological
positions before we can support them or
listen to their music, but I personally
have a problem with artists that build
these huge Christian followings and then
turn around and either don't live the
lifestyle of a Christian or mislead
hundreds of thousands of souls with
outright unbiblical statements. I know
it sounds like a crazy idea, but I think
that somebody who represents
Christianity should represent the
Christian faith accurately. Now, if you
think I'm just being a jerk because I
hate CCM. Well, you are wrong. Kind of.
I actually like and appreciate some CCM
music. And to prove it, here's my
Spotify rap for the year. You see, you
see what the number one genre is. And
let me blow your mind even further. I
was actually led to the Lord in part by
Christian radio. I was in my truck. I
turned on the radio and it just happened
to be the right song at the right time.
And it helped soften my heart toward the
Lord. And you know what? That's not that
uncommon. You know who else had this
same experience? freaking agent Cody
Banks or Malcolm from Malcolm in the
Middle, Frankie Munz, that's who. But I
was driving across the country and
everything that could possibly go wrong
was going wrong and I was like almost in
tears and the only station that would
play would was Caleb and it was like the
perfect moment and that brought me
started I started you know going to
church every Sunday and and really kind
of being involved in my faith. So my
fight is not necessarily against CCM
music. I think it should be held to a
higher standard for sure. I don't even
have a problem with secular music. My
issue is against those who pretend to be
something that they're not, use it as a
marketing attempt to build their
careers, make money off of a fan base
they don't care about, and then outgrow
them and abandon them when they get
bigger. And if you don't think that
happens all the time in the Christian
music industry only because the name
Christian is slapped onto it, then you
need to know that the guy who's been
emailing you for money is not actually
the Prince of Zimbabwe. I have a theory,
and it's not a new one. How many bands
do you think exist in the CCM world that
would not make it in the secular world?
Now, how many of those bands exist in
that [music] world simply because they
know that their audience is okay with
crappy art? You see where I'm going with
this one? That's it. That's the whole
bit for this part that just I just feel
like there's so many crappy bands in the
CCM world because they know that they
can get away with it there. Oh, and
look, the pizza's done. Let's move on to
Do you remember a hit television program
called Wife Swap? You know, the one
where husbands would swap their wives
with other husbands and the viewers at
home would watch the chaos unfold.
>> SHE'S NOT A CHRISTIAN.
>> WELL, it appears that some Christian
artists have decided to play God swap
with the dark world of heavy metal. But
instead, the chaos is only one-sided and
they never swap back. A number of the
dark and scary rock artists that our
parents warned us about have now become
born again Christians. While the number
of the safe little CCM artists our
parents made us all listen to are now
the scary ones and gay. Yeah, a lot of
them are just homosexual. Now, if you
had a time machine and went back to 1998
to specifically tell me that the
guitarist from Korn is a better
representation of Christianity than Amy
Grant, I'd call you a lying liar and
proceed to punch you in the nose for
being a dirty, rotten liar. And then I
would immediately apologize because it
turns out that that is actually true.
>> So, I met I met Christ. He's the light
of the world. He became a man, but like
his spirit, his light came into me and I
I heard an interesting theory on a
podcast called CCM in 3D where one of
the hosts proposes a theory that the CCM
genre died around 2002 and what remains
is the same sounding songs that are
vaguely influenced by the ever
dominating worship style. He says that
from 1988 to 1995, Christian radio
stations were diverse and played all
sorts of different styles of CCM, but
now that's a thing of the past. I
personally think that this is a
byproduct of algorithmic based
corporatism where the CCM radio
gatekeepers have discovered what sells
well and are not willing to risk losing
money on new or experimental sounds.
Topic choices are usually one out of the
two extremes, either sad and depressing
or unrealistically chipper and upbeat.
There's really no room for songs about
complex emotional topics about sin,
repentance, anger, or injustice. Because
those sorts of songs tend to rock the
boat, and rocking the boat doesn't make
money, does it? This is why artists
rarely die on any hills, and when they
do, they magically disappear from
Christian radio. Now, this wasn't always
the case. In fact, CCM music was built
on raw, gritty, and poetic lyricism that
cut straight to the core on difficult
issues. Take for example the lyrics from
the 1988 song Rain Dance by Resurrection
Band. talking to myself. Ideas and
images covered with dust. Memories well
wororn from constant youth, stained by
loneliness and lust. Heaping on my heart
abuse. Somebody tell me what's the use.
Or their 1991 song called Love Speak. I
can preach you until I'm blue in the
face. Judge you to death and put you in
your place. I can feed your body. Yeah.
Share the wealth and still lose my soul
to the fires of hell. Holy Soldier
boldly released one of the most
captivating songs on the horrors of
abortion titled See No Evil. And those
lyrics go like this. I float inside her
womb. Oh mother, I am coming soon.
Suddenly fear and dread when mother says
she wants me dead. It's a stark contrast
from supposed Christian bands these days
apologizing for light-hearted songs they
made 20 years ago. Most of the early CCM
artists didn't shy away from reality,
touching on themes of suffering,
domestic violence, child abuse, and
street life. They often used imagery
that would simply be too dark for
today's CCM standard. These are just a
few of the hundreds of songs from
brilliant artists that didn't hold back.
In fact, to my true CCM fans, do me a
favor and give me some of your favorite
lyrics in the comment section. I'm
willing to bet you'll include Keith
Green, Rich Mullins, Daniel Band, Larry
Norman, Daniel Amos, Petra Striper, the
77s, I can keep going. And if anybody
wants to see how significantly different
CCM was then compared to now, check out
the live version of Where Roses Grow by
Resurrection Band in 1992. The
instrumentalism, the passion, the
lyricism, top-notch. Now, FM radio is
pretty much a thing of the past, but
that's not really the case in the
Christian world. With one of the largest
Christian radio networks boasting
anywhere from 12 million to 20 million
weekly listeners, it's still a viable
platform for artists to reach new
listeners and build their music careers.
However, Christian radio has been
dominated by worship music for some time
now. While the new corporate radio songs
become more shallow, worship music
filled the vacuum, not because it's
artistically superior, but because it's
one of the few places left where
listeners feel like God is actually
being honored. But here's the irony. The
very system that flattened a CCM into
this safe algorithmic approved product
is no longer necessary. We don't need
radio gatekeepers anymore. We don't need
corporate labels deciding which theology
is market appropriate. We don't need to
sand down every rough edge to keep the
playlist placement. The internet broke
the monopoly. And quietly, outside of
Christian radio, something interesting
is happening. Independent Christian
artists are writing deeper, heavier, and
more theologically serious music again.
Not because it's profitable, but because
it's true. And this is how CCM started
in the first place. Musicians who
weren't trying to build a brand, just
trying to tell the truth and glorify God
with whatever sound they had. And the
baton was sadly dropped somewhere along
the way. But it wasn't destroyed. It's
simply just waiting for the right person
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