How the Worship Music Industry Works | Elias Dummer at Churchfront Conference

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[ReawakenHymns]

Very true. I've had 2 songs hit the New Release Friday playlist and even a year and a half after it left that playlist, the first is still my most popular song on Spotify by a large margin. The Spotify editorial team is hugely influential in what worship music is played in churches around the world. I greatly appreciate Elias' work in encouraging transparency about how the industry works.

[Shawneverette]

On some of the platforms there is no christian slot. LOL A lot of times I put soul music. I would love my music to get out to more churches and individuals but it is what it is. It is art. I put it out and who ever is blessed by it is.

[chrislowmusic]

Such an important conversation to have - thanks Elias and team for getting this research out onto the table.

[zakindabox]

“Enough” by Elias is one of my favorite worship songs. It’s incredible.

[WesVanPelt]

Very interesting look into the "man behind the curtain" of Worship music. Thank you!

[dylanfrercks]

I'm here for a conversation, not to stir the pot. But the stats at the front of the video hit home with me in terms of what I have been calling the "Christian Monoculture." What do I mean by that? We are outsourcing like 40% of the worship experience (Sunday morning church service) in our local church to megachurches from population centers that have very different demographics than many of the churches we work in or attend.

Example: it used to be that if you went to a traditional Methodist church in the city, you would hear an arrangement of "It Is Well" for organ. But, if you went to an Appalachian church, you might hear it played on acoustic guitar, fiddle, and banjo. Same words and music, but very different contextualization.

Now, because of tracks, loops, etc you can go to many big-ish churches (all across the world) and hear almost the exact same songs on Sunday mornings. There is almost no contextualization in most modern evangelical churches.

So, why does this matter? Because in the process of trying to move towards music that would reach people who don't listen to Christian music (because to be honest, even most Christians are listening to secular music more than CCM or worship) we created a new traditionalism in which churches look almost the same, anywhere you go. We also made life infinitely more difficult on Christian creatives who aren't associated with big churches and labels.

To be clear, I work at a church that does Elevation, Bethel, Hillsong, and Wickham all the time. I don't love those songs but I don't dislikethem either. I think much of the writing is really good. I just wish we lived in a world where the songwriting gifts of more of our brothers and sister in Christ were on display. One of the greatest christian songwriters of our time is John Mark McMillan and almost none of the Christians I know have heard anything beyond "How He Loves" and "King of My Heart" probably because his lyrics wouldn't play well on the radio or are too "artsy" compared to the same old same old we get in the worship industry.

So, tell me where I am wrong. Tell em what I am missing. Or, does any of this resonate within anyone else in modern church world?

[Waffle_Haus]

Anyone else having trouble finding Baby Jesus big boss forever on Spotify?

[dmitriikilishek]

Just thinking out loud... when I hear a song as a worshipper... Do I care who wrote the song? Do I care where I heard it or who promoted it? There are other things I'm more concerned about. E.g. does it resonate with me spiritually? Is it biblical? Does it help me get closer to my Father? Based on that I would select songs for my church. Not branding... promotons.. age of the song etc. Some smaller churches don't even follow any trends. They just play and sing what they like for years. There are many angles to look at this. Not to argue... just sharing a point of view It was interesting to learn about the industry.

[Robowx]

I have no idea about that. Because I don’t have Spotify and never will.

[jasonkuzman]

This is not a new issue, it just looks different. Because of the exponential growth in quantity of recorded music, there are different sorting methods for the most popular stuff to rise to the top. This is not new.

Years ago, every corner church worship leader did not have the resources to create a quality piece of recorded music without a record label. The resources to record and produce a song have been commoditized - it is incredibly cheap and approachable.

The difference now is that if you want you can actually find independent artists and use their work. It is available. But it is silly to expect the 'system' to do the work for you of finding it.

The popular stuff is popular because people have culturally predictable taste, not because of some algorithm. This has been tracked for years in radio, where they trial and survey new music constantly - yes before Spotify.

It is like generative AI - it will reflect back existing trends. Don't fault it for not making new ones... That's the job of a leader

[zanewest]

@churchfront Demmer not Dummer. Rude lol.