Crossover

[Mezzamorpheus]

Getting crossover-succes is not foremost a matter of money, but the most important thing is getting a secular recording contract. That's exactly what Switchfoot got, with Columbia Records. That's also the case with the likes of Stacie Orrico, Pillar, P.O.D., Jaci Velasquez etc. It's just wishful thinking if you think that with a bag of money you can 'buy' secular succes. It has everything to do with bridges we have built by ourselves... Only with 'luck' we can overcome that, like MercyMe, but they're an exception.

[Michael]

I'm sorry I have to disagree with you, but industry insiders have made it clear that the way the mainstream radio market works is that the record labels pay third parties to market their songs to radio stations. Those third parties then contact the radio people, and the radio people play what those people ask them to. Except for big accidents that I suppose sometimes happen, that's the way songs get on the radio. Ask Steve Taylor how much money it cost to get "Kiss Me" out there... it takes major bucks.

We can always pray for a holy "accident," of course... God can make it happen! But I'm just telling you how it normally works. Of course the ones you hear about are the "accidents" because the industry doesn't want everyone to figure out just how corrupt it is. I'm not necessarily talking about the CCM radio industry, however... I believe they have their own unique set of sometimes questionable practices.

[spottacus]

There's a real wall up to block Petra out of the radio side. I suppose we know who's responsible for that.

I emailed the J&H mystery artist mp3 to a secular station in St Cloud, MN last summer, and the afternoon dj was really excited about it. He wanted to know who it was, when it would be released, wanted to make sure his station had it first, promised me he'd play it during drive time...but when I finally told him it was Petra, and he told his station manager, they totally dropped it. After about a week, he finally told me that his station manager had refused to let him add it to the playlist.

[LexingtonPethead]

Spottacus, could you elaborate on that? I simply DON'T understand why radio is dissing Petra so bad. It's very frustrating for me. I live in an area where Christian Rock is played on the radio, yet they won't play ANY Petra.

[spottacus]

All I can tell you is that this is war. The enemy does whatever he can.

[LexingtonPethead]

(slapping my forehead) pardon me for being so dense. I could not agree with you more on that.

However, there is a lot of music out today from other bands that is also lyrically strong with message, yet there is nothing keeping these bands from radio play.

It's almost as if the CCM industry has an axe to grind with Petra. Like, "Oh, that's Petra? They're not the in-thing anymore, so we're not going to play them." is the prevailant attitude out there.

I just don't get it.

[Shell]

It is war; the enemy not wanting Petra out there is a lot of it. Part of it is the CCM industry doen't know a good thing.