Dwindling fortunes of the gospel music industry
The gospel music sector has been in a downward spiral compared to secular music. To put it bluntly, most secular artistes currently approach their craft as a business, with the aim to accrue returns from their talent.
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However, those from the gospel fraternity haven’t taken advantage of the situation and are still towing the old ways of doing things. Unfortunately, that has affected the fortunes of the players within the industry and, virtually, the “no show” from gospel artistes in the year 2016 can be a testament of their lack of business acumen.
Already, Charterhouse, organisers of the annual Ghana Music Awards, has called for entries for 2016 and sincerely, Showbiz believes it will be difficult for the board to select nominees for the gospel categories.
Perhaps, the unique position our gospel artistes find themselves in; trying to balance their calling as soul winners for Christ and making a living out of their gift has rather had a negative toll on their progress.
However, this does not excuse the stubborn refusal of gospel artistes to adapt modern business strategies to what they do.
For instance, most of the gospel artistes have no proper management in place to seek deals and handle professional transactions on their behalf. These artistes multi-task; serving as their own managers, event managers, production managers, creative directors, publicists among others.
It is little wonder that there are barely any major gospel shows within the year to propagate their songs, compared to the myriad of secular ones held especially during Christmas festivities.
Showbiz urges the gospel fraternity to up their game to attract Corporate Ghana to finance their works and also adopt modern business approach to build their brands. That way, gospel music will find its rightful place within the industry and be saved from the claws of obscurity.
