And if you’d been reading this blog very long, you’d probably caught on to that by now. Or your pickiness may be selective?

I contend that’s just a part of doing bidness in the music bidness. If you can’t afford to pay rent, how long do you think the landlord will allow you to stay? Should be the same thing with writer/publisher/artist royalties.

If the artist is not the record label, it’s not the artist’s responsibility to pay royalties — it’s that of the label. But if artists think their reputation is on the line in this regard, maybe the artists need to hold their labels accountable.

If I think I can’t afford to pay proper royalties, maybe I need to get out of the bidness.

Norm — I wouldn’t spend time or energy trying to find out who does and who doesn’t, but I would pray for wisdom in your bookings, just as you would regarding other moral issues surrounding the people you do business with.

As promoters, how can we enthusiastically pursue an offering if we know that the performing group has a reputation for not paying the writers of the music they sing?

If not tithing is stealing from God, why isn’t not paying royalties stealing from the writers?

Maybe that’s an important reason why a group like Leg 5 received the largest offering we’ve ever received for a group.

We hear so much about guys that do it wrong - I just wanted to give props to guys that went the extra mile to do it right. Roger Bennet was and Scott Fowler is a man of intergrity. We need more like them.

Chris

How in the sam hill did we get from talking about how divisive music is in the church to spouting off who is and isn’t paying royalties? I know that writers should et their money but have we resorted to open blogging to damage reputations? We will be opening for the Freemans in June here in Texas so I get the unusual opportunity of allowing them the opportunity to clear their name in person without getting to rush off to judgement about how they conduct business.

Perhaps this is part of the answer to the question “what is wrong with SG?” Whether it is NOT paying royalties or complaining about style or rumor mongering…we have to get back to focusing on the subject and the TRUTH of the Word, let the audience see your heart and much of everything else begins to line up. Then again, maybe the audience has seen the heart and this is why SG is struggling?

I know, POLYANA THINKING, but if we search the scriptures, polyana or not, it is the thinking that God requires for us to be blessed. The choice is ours in this thing, trust God or please ourselves.

It is now time for me to return to my anti-stone barricade and see what flies.

Nope, Sockpuppet, you have misinterpreted my interest. But I’m glad you let me know so I could clear this up. And I apologize for coming across like a biddy because I insisted on some evidence. My interest is NO?T in knowing sordid details. My interest is in stopping this unsubstantiated rumor at the source.

But, hey, thanks for sharing what God laid on your heart (if that is really who laid it on your heart!).

For those who may think that I am stirctly a SG guy, we have made some in roads to the teens at our churhc simply because I may do the solo on a contemporary song such as “My Hope Is In The Lord” and the next Sunday be there with our group. That is the genius of BG ino that he did not allow himself to get stuck into one genre or another. Incidentally, Bill has brought the SG crowd a little ways the other direction as well. I think they call that having two sides try to meet somewhere in the middle.

Gaither just did a concert in Rotterdam Holland. This link is a young Dutch couples persective with photos and videos. The videos include a great rendition of Jesus Loves me by GVB, a new comedy routine complete with dutch translator, although most of the dutch understand english. EHSS was also there, live video shots included.. Holland is a very permissive country almost anything goes, its not easy, and we have a young christian couple raising a family, going to Gaither concerts and praising the Lord. Check out there web site, leave a encouraging message for the Christian couple. The word “Plaatsen” means “Post”

I suspect that the reason so many praise-team worship services are as appealing as they are is that the team practices together for 3 hours or more each week. Often, in a more traditional service, the pianist (and, perhaps organist or other keyboard player), gets to the auditorium 15 minutes before the start of the service, puts post-it-notes in the hymnal and is ready for the downbeat. (S)he has played this stuff for 30 years and can do it by rote.

Most hymnal are written without dynamic notations and with no variation from the first verse to the last. And that’s they way they are played and led. The sameness becomes staleness and the people yawn in unison.

If the musicians would commit to rehearse together the way the praise-teams do, the quality, variety and musicianship would enhance the service regardless of the genre of music.

As Oswald Chambers said, “My Utmost For His Highest.” If my service is music, it should be the very best I can offer no mater what style. It is, after all, for Him. And if I give Him the stale crumbs from a song I “learned” two or three decades ago, then it is not my utmost.

To twang or not to twang isn’t the question. My utmost or my adequate: that is the question.

At least that’s the way I see (and hear) it - - almost every Sunday.

This is interesting. Gaither videos has been taken international. I am a Canadian of Dutch parents, the Gaither videos have made there way on Dutch TV, now we have artists “as seen on Gaither videos” doing concerts in Holland