Worst off are our gospel artistes. Their effort seem undermined and this sort of scare people from doing and staying gospel.
Studio time aint cheap. Arranging for a good photo session don't come free neither. Getting your songs into CDs and paying for good graphic designs for your CD cover and other promotional materials aint cheap as well.
The list is endless. We all agree that money is needed to pull off a lot of things around the ministry/career of an artiste. So how come a lot of them are broke? How do they pull through with no money and all the enumerated expenses?
We got this piece from a guest blogger and it sure will open your horizon with hard truths.
12 Top Reasons Gospel Artistes Are Broke
James L. Walker, Jr.
Kirk Franklin wrote a mega song once that asked, “Why Do We Sing?
With over 100 gospel albums released since that 1993 Grammy winning song
and album, I’m still asking why are gospel artists singing and making
CDs when seemingly only 5-10 are really making money to survive on as a
person.
In nearly 20 years, I have worked with practically every major gospel
artist on the planet in some shape or form, whether promoting a concert
featuring them, managing them, administering their publishing or
obviously, serving as their legal counsel.
I have noticed one common trend: that while we have some well known
names who are doing a lot of damage (i.e., making a ton of money), like
Marvin Sapp, John P. Kee, Yolanda Adams, Donald Lawrence, Donnie
McClurkin, CeCe Winans, Fred Hammond and of course, Kirk Franklin, there
are 99% that never see an actual royalty check from their record sales
and to be frank, are really struggling financially.
We have 99% of the so-called “national gospel artists” or “international
gospel artists” (depending on how they describe themselves on the press
release) struggling to pay the mortgage, car note or rent.
So I asked why are we (STILL) singing? Specifically, why are we making
CDs and then I realized many of the gospel artists probably don’t know
why they are struggling or broke.
I gathered 12 Top Reasons for this struggle.
But before I state them, I am aware that gospel artists or “church folk”
always like you to give some Biblical or “spiritual” foundation or
“exegesis” before you sound off in an article like this.
So before reading the list below (if you need too have a Biblical
backdrop), know that in biblical terms, the number 12 is symbolic for
perfection. Some say 12 is the product of 3 (the perfectly divine and
heavenly number) and 4 (the earthly, i.e., the number of what is
material and organic).
There were 12 patriarchs in the Old Testament from Shem (the son of
Noah) to Jacob.
In wise leader Solomon’s reign, the number 12 was the predominating
factor vs. the number 5 in the tabernacle.
In the New Testament it is no different: 12 Apostles; 12 Foundations in
the Heavenly Jerusalem; the 12 Gates; the 12 Pearls; and the 12 angels.
There are 12 months in a year. And, if all of that is not “deep” enough
for some reading this article, my grandfather had 12 kids (which is
significant enough for me)!
Now that we have laid the foundation and gotten that out of the way for
“church folk”, here are the 12 Top Reasons Gospel Artists Go Broke
(among many more):
1. They TRUST Jesus & Anyone Who Uses The Name of “Jesus” to
Convince Them Not to Read Their Contracts or Hire Good Representation;
2. They PRAY Daily, But Won’t READ Daily;
3. They Sing and Shout Day and Night, But Never Listen Morning or
Evening;
4. They Keep Hiring A Choir Member or Deacon From Their Church to “play”
Manager;
5. They Like New Shoes More Than New Money;
6. They Overprice Themselves Out of The Market and Don’t Understand the
Changes in the Marketplace;
7. They Won’t Read ANY Contracts, Even the Sprint Contract, then Cry
“Satan is a Liar”, When The Phone Is Shut Off;
8. They Love a High Profile Nice Big Car, vs. a Nice Low Profile Large
Bank Account;
9. They’ll Listen to Their Pastor’s Advice Before They’ll Listen to
Their Attorney, Manager or Accountant;
10. They Don’t Realize Jesus Wept Because He Knew A Generation would
Sing and Never Get Paid Until They Read Their Contracts Like they Read
the Bible and Pray Daily;
11. They Don’t Understand a Point, Publishing or Statutory Rates; and
12. Like All Artists, They Want To Be A “Star” For All The Wrong
Reasons! But They Even Wrongly Feel Jesus “Called Them” To Just Sing And
Not Worry or Care About Business.
Let me explain a little about some of these reasons that are not
obvious.
About 5 years ago, a gospel artists told me don’t “worry about the
contract, me and the label president went to church together, he’s a Man
of God.”
I wasn’t worried about the “God” in that statement, I was worried about
the “Man”, i.e., flesh. Gospel artists often feel because an executive
knows Jesus or comes to church with them or has a “come to Jesus” moment
with them, that this executive could never send them a one-sided
contract.
WRONG! Matter of fact, in those cases of someone “bonding” with you that
much, please read the contract even closer and avoid the pitfalls of
Top Reason #1 above.
Also, my Grandfather was always a man of prayer, but he also taught me
don’t be so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good. When an artist
spends all day praying, but refuses to spend anytime reading (Reason #2
above) books like “All You Need to Know About the Music Business” by
Donald Passman or Kashif’s Book, “Everything You Better Know About The
Record Industry”, he has done himself no “earthly” good in terms of
protecting himself.
I appreciate Donald Lawrence tweeting my book from time-to-time, “This
Business of Urban Music” (Random House/Billboard Books), and just pray
people or rather gospel artists go buy the book. But, being a former
President of the Stellar Awards Board, I often took copies of my books
to our annual Stellar Awards and gave them out, but some artists still
would not read.
And per Reason #4 above, realize you can’t have Pookie and Ray-Ray
managing you. Do not hire your BFF (best friend) from the choir to
manage you or the deacon who raised you to be manager. Unless they are
trained, it will be very hard for them to advance your career, no matter
how “anointed” they are.
The gospel concert marketplace is really different than when promoter Al
Walsh took out the Kirk Franklin-Yolanda Adams-Fred Hammond tour and
shocked America with a mainstream gospel tour.
Nowadays, people don’t want to pay $30,000 or $15,000 and in some cases
$5,000 to a gospel artist. And, consumers are not gonna pay to see a
major artist in a commercial venue for $40 dollars when they know T.D.
Jakes’ Potter’s House will have you for free two weeks later.
So, as Reason #6 eludes to, as an artist, you have to take this into
consideration and work with the church or promoter in a reasonable way,
in terms of your pricing, hotel, travel demands and even food requests.
Otherwise, you will overprice yourself and sit home every weekend, while
lesser known artists get work.
Per Top Reasons #7-9 above, listen to your advisors, live conservatively
and read all your contracts. I understand your pastor is a very
important individual in your life. But your pastor is not your
accountant, lawyer or manager and he or she may not know the
ins-and-outs of the music industry. Thus, you cannot listen to him on
music biz stuff.
Like all artists, gospel artists must learn what a point is on an album,
that percentage of their royalties that is paid to the producer, i.e.,
Top Reason #11 above. They should also understand music publishing,
i.e., how a simple song on a Donnie McClurkin platinum album could
garner the songwriter in upwards of $100,000 in royalties under the laws
of copyright (i.e., what’s known as the Statutory Rate).
And, lastly, even if you feel “called” by God to sing and “that’s the
reason why you sing”, please feel just as “called” to study the
“business” of music and protect yourself.
John 11:35: Jesus Wept!!!! (and is STILL weeping while we just sing and
don’t handle business)!
James L. Walker, Jr., is an attorney and real estate owner based
in Atlanta, GA. He can be reached at jwalkerbook@yahoo.com; or on
Twitter @jameslwalkeresq or on his website: www.walkerandassoc.com
Attorney Walker is a Professor, Legal Analyst and the Author of “This
Business of Urban Music”.
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