Contemporary Christian Music

While Christian music existed in the 1960’s, it was not widely popular due to its hymn based tempo. Contemporary Christian music really took off in the 1970's from the countercultural Jesus Movement, which led to the multi-billion dollar industry that we know today.
There are many definitions for Christian music. Typically it can be categorized by its lyrics rather than musical style and from. Christian music comes in every musical style and genre. While Christian music is used to encourage believers, its main purpose is to evangelize.
Many concerns follow Christian music. During group presentations, Emily recognized Bono, lead singer from U2, as claiming that it is arrogant to play under a Christian label since people are of a sinful nature. There have been accusations made accusing contemporary Christian music of watering down the gospel. Many are concerned with the relationship between secular and Christian music as well. Many Christian artists such as Switchfoot and The Jonahs Brothers, that have crossed over to mainstream recording contracts to reach a larger demographic and for monetary reasons. "We've always called ourselves a rock band and tried to stay away from anything that would limit our audience. For me, my faith is a really personal, important part of my life, and it's bigger than a musical genre," said Switchfoot drummer, Chad Butler.
However there have been Christian bands that have kept both secular industry success as well as a solid Christian message. Artists such as Mercy Me, Brandon Heath and Casting Crowns have found fame in the mainstream market and yet have kept their message consistent. If fact, Ken Barnes with USA Today reported that Casing Crowns’ The Altar and the Door record debuted at number two, only being beat by High School Musical 2 by selling 129,000 units in its first week. Other examples like Word entertainment continue to grow now includes Word Label Group, Word Publishing, and Word Distribution. The Word Label Group includes Word, Fervent, Myrrh, and Canaan Records possessing over 40,000 copyrighted songs.
The Christian music industry has grown incredibly and is here to stay. The Christian/Gospel category of overall music sales is the sixth most popular genre according to Sound Scan's 2004 year-end report. Gospel music sales outpace sales of Latin, soundtracks, jazz, classical and new age genres. Billboard music charts often focus on Christian music due to the revenue that it is able to bring in. “Album sales are up, and digital sales continue to rise. Most importantly, the impact of the Gospel through music is reaching beyond even what our sales reveal. Everywhere you look, in books, games, TV and movies, music that is inspired by faith seems more prevalent than ever before,” said John W. Styll, president and CEO of the Gospel Music Association. “There may be many reasons why this is true, but I think chief among them is that people seem to be drawn to the inspiring and compassionate message of Gospel music amid uncertain times.”