management

[SamScales]

Amen Rock On!! I know I tend to complain a lot at times and man, how much better it would be would I get down on my knees and pray instead of say! It's weird, sometimes I do it and others.......wish I would stay steady you know.
As for PETRA, I tell ya, when you are in ministry, it's pretty tuff, specially when you consider all the competition they are facing down in the Nashville crowd. It's quite a different world down there. I'm blessed to be an Indie Artist. I think I'd be afraid I'd lose the focus.
So in order for PETRA to stay focused on ministry and not lose heart, or get caught up in too much of the biz end, we got to keep them surrounded with a prayer hedge, because when you are out there ministering, that's when you get hit with the enemy's darts! It's easy to get discouraged sometimes and prayer warriors on your side are always so desperately needed. So thank you to all of you who are praying! It's such an awesome ministry and responsibility!

[Shell]

Yep, it can be a jungle out there...

There is no criteria in the industry for Bible study, accountability or even plain old fashioned common sense. Some of those folks would probably do well to get training in "How Not To Be An Idiot 101." There aren't enough people in the industry who will expose sin in a loving way and then point them towards God, or they pretty much go unheard. Combine that with being away from home a lot and dealing with a public that for the most part doesn't know how to hate sin and love the sinner, and is more interested in speculating than praying, and it's no wonder things get crazy. The best thing to do is pray for them.

I'm not the leading authority on the biz; I don't have a background in the industry, but I've been to a lot of concerts over the years and learned a lot from keeping my eyes open and mouth shut. I know how people can be.

[brent]

Remeber folks. The economy is not God centered. It is man centered, and man driven. This whole concept expoused today that God has his own economy is nuts. We are here on earth. We live in the system. None of us can get by without playing the game. We have the same money that everyone else has. I say all of that to say this:

ALL of the music industry is funded by dirty money. The most famous, successful recording and movie studios are/were owned by the mob. EVERY major label has funky funding. The secular, dirty money funded labels own the Christian labels. The small mom and pops that were ministry oriented in the 70's and 80's are looong gone.

The people that own the labels make the Christian artists and management jump through the same hoops and political bs that the secular artists go through. The Christian retailers are just as bad as the secular retailers. They will not pay their bills just as Walmart takes forever to pay theirs.

Music is all marketing and money to those people. Artists have the same hiring pool and may/do hire people that may be jerks, do stupid things, play dirty, lie, sheat, steal, etc to get the bills paid. The business side is kept separate in their minds and on paper, so that the artists can concentrate of "ministry". Anytime you are selling Jesus as a commodity, you are on the edge. Now, drug-money funded company selling Jesus to Christians...that's a hoot. The business is not perfect.

Do I have a problem with the business? No way Jack! The church has been the worst example of fiscal stewardship. When I managed business or owned them, and dealt with the major religious organizations here (ORU, Rhema Bible Institute, etc, etc) none of them paid their bills, and if they did it was not in the same year that services were rendered. I cringe everytime I see a stinkin' cross and dove on a check.

I do have a problem with some jerk making a mess out of the good name and testimony established by hard working, well intentioned artists. I do not know what is going on. I don't want to. None of us would really like to know the deep dark truth. You would burn every artist's disk that you own.

[Shell]

True words of wisdom from someone who does have a background in the biz. The trick is to find a way to do "business" and still maintain some integrity and fairness. I know the business world isn't about fairness, but I think it's possible to find that balancing point. The Bible doesn't say there's anything wrong with making money. But it does warn about what the love of money can do and gives us guidelines about how to live within the world's system. You can make money without lying, cheating and being a jerk if you're following the Bible. At least in the secular industry they don't have to struggle with the problem of trying to serve two masters. Sure, they're corrupt. They don't try to hide the fact that they're only out for themselves. But the Christian industry for the most part is just as corrupt, if not even more so, because they've resorted to the world's way of doing things and are trying to serve two masters. There's bound to be corruption when that's the case. And the Bible has pretty strong words about claiming to be a Christian and not living that way. It does make sense that artists would have managers to deal with the "business" end of things so they can focus on touring, recording, etc. But they would do well to keep in mind if you swim with the sharks, you'll be eaten eventually.

I didn't mean for that to turn into a speech. Funny how this drifted from concerns about Petra's management and sharing copyrighted material to the industry in general. For some strange reason it doesn't surprise me things have sort of gotten off topic.