What if??? - The 2010 Classic Petra reunion 84', 85' lineup

[executioner]

He could take those songs, rework them in a way that would be more appealing to a younger crowd, and see what happens. Could be interesting.

This may be overgeneralizing, but you realize what appeals to a younger crowd these days, right?

The younger crowd doesn't buy any of it. The younger crowd is buying what's on radio. So, who gives a flying crap what they want? They are not Petra fans. That is the beauty behind this latest reunion. This is for existing Petra fans. No matter who you are, most generally, if you like Petra, chances are you are old by industry standards. If you are over 13, you are not who they care about selling to. So you old farts, enjoy the good music.

Actually the younger crowd does not know even what a radio is. I have a 14 yr old, and everything for him is word of mouth. They hear all their music from samples off the net and then decide to DL. I saw on FoxBusiness the other day saying that 43% of the homes in the U.S.A. no longer have radios in them. Also some car companies are making factory steroes without FM/AM frequencies. They are coming with the Sat. radio or just CD/Aux hookups. I know the new Sync stereo system that is in all new Fords has FM/AM Frequencies as an option only, and Ford is saying most people are passing on it.

[knotodiswrld]

Also some car companies are making factory steroes without FM/AM frequencies. They are coming with the Sat. radio or just CD/Aux hookups. I know the new Sync stereo system that is in all new Fords has FM/AM Frequencies as an option only, and Ford is saying most people are passing on it.

GASP!! How would I get my daily dose of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity? Oh, what a dark and evil age we are headed for if we don't have radios in our cars.

[Jonathan]

How would I get my daily dose of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity?

[separateunion]

BTW what is an ATL??

Atlanta, also known as Hotlanta.

[Jan]

[/quote]

My guess is "NOT."

[BForm]

Hey, don't shoot the messenger. That message was recorded EXACTLY as I received it.

Shawn, ATL is Atlanta, GA. I'm thinking about starting a facebook page to begin drawing together those that would likely come to Atlanta. That way the promoter can see the level of interest here. Some of you may want to do the same in your area.

Think about, if a promoter in your area knows that you can get the word out to a large group of people that would likely come to a concert, they would be more likely to make the investment. You could be the one man/woman promoter for all things Petra (John, Greg, II Guys, Classic Line-up, Farewill Line-up). We might see more concerts if we worked together on this. Hey, even I could front that much money if I knew I didn't have to spend a fortune to promote it. Hmmmm.

[separateunion]

Hey, don't shoot the messenger. That message was recorded EXACTLY as I received it.

Shawn, ATL is Atlanta, GA. I'm thinking about starting a facebook page to begin drawing together those that would likely come to Atlanta. That way the promoter can see the level of interest here. Some of you may want to do the same in your area.

Think about, if a promoter in your area knows that you can get the word out to a large group of people that would likely come to a concert, they would be more likely to make the investment. You could be the one man/woman promoter for all things Petra (John, Greg, II Guys, Classic Line-up, Farewill Line-up). We might see more concerts if we worked together on this. Hey, even I could front that much money if I knew I didn't have to spend a fortune to promote it. Hmmmm.

If it was that easy, Petra wouldn't have been playing 20 concerts a year for the several years prior to their retirement.

[BForm]

[quote="separateunionIf it was that easy, Petra wouldn't have been playing 20 concerts a year for the several years prior to their retirement.[/quote]

Seriously? Social networking has been used and understood for several years already? Very few businesses/organizations have caught on to the power of social networking. Here's a simple question. Has anyone tried this for John or Petra? If they have, they've done a terrible job of promoting the idea because I've never heard of it.

All I'm saying is that in an area like Atlanta, and any other major city for that matter, if a promoter knew there was a fan base that could be promoted to with a few keystrokes, I would think it would make it more attractive. When Petra came through for their last Farewell concert, afterwords I met people that would have liked to go that didn't even know they were here, were retiring, or were even on tour for that matter. Why? Look at some of that last few posts. Nobody is listening to radio anymore, and posters in Christian bookstores aren't likely to work either. I buy a lot of Christian books but can't tell you the last time I went to a bookstore rather than bought it online. Traditional promotion is expensive, yet ineffective.

[knotodiswrld]

What are you saying? That I could still get it streaming over the web? I thought of that, but they sort of frown on that kind of bandwidth consumption for non-business purposes where I work. And mobile broadband is expensive, so when I'm driving I really want my radio!

[gman]

I don't know how many songs Bob typically writes, but some guys write 25 plus songs and narrow that down to 10 or 12 for the album. I'm sure Bob has built up a nice collection of unused stuff over the years.
GMan

If something doesn't make an album, it is for good reason. To date, there has never been a release of old discarded tunes, by any artist, that is worth a darn. This is like saying the stuff thrown in the trash by CS Lewis would be killer to read. A good artist knows when to stop. Not everything is good.

I disagree slightly. I've heard some stuff that never made it onto an album that was excellent.
For a good songwriter like Bob, I would bet the discarded "crap" is better than a lot of what is out there. Artists do throw out songs for reasons other than not being good. Not fitting the purpose of the album, wanting to go in a different direction being a couple reasons.
Again, I'm mainly talking good songwriters, like Bob, that could write all day, everyday as a career.

[brent]

[quote="separateunionIf it was that easy, Petra wouldn't have been playing 20 concerts a year for the several years prior to their retirement.

Seriously? Social networking has been used and understood for several years already? Very few businesses/organizations have caught on to the power of social networking. Here's a simple question. Has anyone tried this for John or Petra? If they have, they've done a terrible job of promoting the idea because I've never heard of it.

All I'm saying is that in an area like Atlanta, and any other major city for that matter, if a promoter knew there was a fan base that could be promoted to with a few keystrokes, I would think it would make it more attractive. When Petra came through for their last Farewell concert, afterwords I met people that would have liked to go that didn't even know they were here, were retiring, or were even on tour for that matter. Why? Look at some of that last few posts. Nobody is listening to radio anymore, and posters in Christian bookstores aren't likely to work either. I buy a lot of Christian books but can't tell you the last time I went to a bookstore rather than bought it online. Traditional promotion is expensive, yet ineffective.[/quote]

I hate to disagree, but I must. Businesses are all over the social networking thing. Not ALL businesses do it, because it can cost a load of money for a small business to pay someone to handle it. We see most poop out because they think that they can just make an existing IT or marketing person handle it, in addition to their daily duties. There are now dedicated services for this. A friend of mine works for for a Fortune 500 (P&G) and they spend millions on their web presence. There is all kinds of grass roots marketing that is a bit more subtle. I see that daily.

There are reports that say radio is still how people find out about music and get their information. More people listen to radio than CDs. There are still 9 BILLION CDs sold annually, not counting bulk media and indie sales. The subscription services are not going to live forever. They have operated in the red since they flipped the switch. People just don't care about that. Once they all have to pay for the music they play, radio will be dead for sure. All of it, internet and terrestrial.

The internet is not the answer to publicity. The internet is a tool to use. The age old problem still remains. They must tell the masses that care about their products and shows. The question remains the same; "How?" It takes more money than ever to advertise, because there are so many places to advertise. Instead of three TV stations to choose from, we have hundreds. Instead of a few radio stations, we have radio, HD radio, subscription radio with hundreds of channels, a bagillion websites, trade rags, fan rags, etc, etc. There are fewer people getting information from a few sources, so they have to hit them all.

This is one of the many reasons why the church needs to suck it up and start doing something besides sitting around with it's thumb up it's butt. Churches need to build community and educate people about the artists and help promote like they used to....TOGETHER. Now they have become private microcosms. Where are the Christian arena tours? There aren't many. Why not? We have about 4 mega churches here in the KC area averaging a minimum of 6k people in attendance. One averages 10k. There are a couple that average 2k and more than a handfull around 500. If all of them pushed a show and got the normal churches involved, we could do an arena. There just is no support locally. It sucks. We sureashell love AC/DC. They will have been here twice. We love short queer piano players too. Elton has been here. We love Garth. He did what...nine shows in a row here?

[brent]

I don't know how many songs Bob typically writes, but some guys write 25 plus songs and narrow that down to 10 or 12 for the album. I'm sure Bob has built up a nice collection of unused stuff over the years.
GMan

If something doesn't make an album, it is for good reason. To date, there has never been a release of old discarded tunes, by any artist, that is worth a darn. This is like saying the stuff thrown in the trash by CS Lewis would be killer to read. A good artist knows when to stop. Not everything is good.

I disagree slightly. I've heard some stuff that never made it onto an album that was excellent.
For a good songwriter like Bob, I would bet the discarded "crap" is better than a lot of what is out there. Artists do throw out songs for reasons other than not being good. Not fitting the purpose of the album, wanting to go in a different direction being a couple reasons.
Again, I'm mainly talking good songwriters, like Bob, that could write all day, everyday as a career.

Well, the Micheal Jackson song sucked. The Beatles song sucked. Metallica's rehashed turds sucked. Artists generally know when to stop. If they don't, the producers and labels do, unless they are just hungry for the dollar.

9 times out of 10, you will have heard those songs, or elements of those songs on following albums. I bet that is true for Bob as well. If there were some of those songs, I bet you would hear parts of them in other tunes that you know and love.

Now those two songs that were written for the album to follow J&H were not songs previously recorded and thrown away. Greg Bailey told me that Bob merely played those songs for him (I assume they were in demo form or Bob was playing guitar for him), but they were NOT recorded and they were never heard again by Greg.

What I would like to see is a Behind the Music series with Petra, where they go back and dissect the mixes, show the parts, talk about what was going on in the session, etc. That would be fun.

[BForm]

Brent, I agree with you pretty much on everything you just said...or typed. I just think we're comparing apples and oranges. I didn't say anything about Fortune 500 companies or filling arenas. I'm only talking about getting 2,500 to 3,000 people to a concert. Good grief, 5,000 people at a Christian concert seems to be huge these days..in MY experience. I'm sure there are Christian concerts larger than this but it's not as common as it used to be.

Anyay, on a small scale I still think it could work.

[Dan]

it's back..

[shawnpfan2010]

Alright!!!

So does any one have any new information about this?