Music theft. Did you think it wouldn't hit Southern Gospel? If you did - you were dead wrong, friend. "File Sharing" has become an enormous problem in all music markets. In Southern Gospel, music is being stolen - illegally downloaded from the Internet - every hour of every day. Every Tuesday morning I watch the sales sheets coming in, and I am amazed at the continuos drop in units sold by top Southern Gospel artist. Artist that use to sell 30 to 40,000 units per project, are lucky to move 9,000 a year.

Gritting my teeth, I set out to prove what many say has "not yet become a problem" in Southern Gospel music. I allowed a song, I had written and owned to be added to three well known file sharing websites. Anyone can sign up for free and download music, illegally, for nothing. Nothing. Within 24 hours over 400 people had downloaded the song. With just one song, that's nearly $6,000.00 in lost revenues for the record companies, distributors, writers and publishers.

Not a problem in Southern Gospel? I beg to differ. It's stealing. It's unfair-and it's happening everyday. Statistics show that 5 out of 10 consumers own or have burned at least one CD in their collection that they did not purchase.

Morally speaking, I'm not sure I understand why the downloaders don't just get a bag, run down to the local Walmart, pick up a CD, slide it under their coat and hit the door. Folks, stealing is stealing. Sure, Southern Gospel music is hard to find in retail outlets. But, what exactly makes illegal file sharing different to these people from shoplifting?

Why it's easy to "share files":

YOU ARE IN THE SAFETY OF YOUR OWN HOME
NO SECURITY CAMERAS ARE WATCHING
YOU CAN SAVE YOURSELF 14 DOLLARS
YOU WILL NOT BE STOPPED AT THE DOOR AND ARRESTED

Why it's WRONG to share files:

YOU ARE ROBBING ARTIST'S, LABEL'S AND WRITER'S OF MILLION'S OF DOLLAR'S
YOU ARE BEING WATCHED BY THE LAW
YOU CAN BE ARRESTED FOR STEALING MUSIC ON LINE
YOU MAY NOT HAVE SECURITY CAMERAS WATCHING - BUT, GOD IS

I took my search a little further. I searched some of the online hosts of these sites. Some of these folks had downloaded my song. While searching their shared files, I crossed Gaither Vocal Band, Happy Goodmans, Hinsons, Gold City and many other artist they were currently sharing.

The following are estimated numbers of stolen music files in a 7 day period

GAITHER VOCAL BAND- SHARED 8,654 FILES
HINSONS-SHARED 4,598 FILES
GOLD CITY- SHARED 3,457 FILES
PERRYS- SHARED 1,877 FILES
CATHEDRALS-SHARED 4,555 FILES

Even more alarming is the file sharing of our current top hit songs. Below, are the Top 5 songs in the National Charts for March 2005. Next to the title, you will find the estimated times the songs were stolen and shared on-line by users of these 3 sites.

Top 5 Songs in the Nation

1. "I GOT HERE AS FAST AS I COULD" - MARK BISHOP- USERS SHARED 1685 TIMES
2. "COME AWAY" - KEVIN SPENCER - USERS SHARED 959 TIMES
3. "FACES" - GREATER VISION - USERS SHARED 655 TIMES
4. "YOU'LL NEVER RUN OUT OF THE BLOOD" - HEIRLINE SHARED 1644 TIMES
5. "IT LOOKS LIKE LOVE TO ME" - CROSSWAY- SHARED 306 TIMES

There is a flip side to all this, of course. From the consumer standpoint, Southern Gospel may have become perfectly ripe for what is called by many "justifiable theft." Radio stations are lost every day to corporate takeovers and poor revenue related format changes. Record companies are releasing new music at an unbelievable pace while retail shelf space is still, primarily, given to Contemporary and Black Gospel artists. Demand increases while supply or, at least, local retail supply -- dwindles. The Internet puts the hard-to-find Southern Gospel smack in the lap of the consumer - for free.

There is also a "doomsayers" contingent, both in our corner of the music industry and across the board, that suggests we are heading for a black out and total shut down of Southern Gospel music. I strongly disagree. We are not going away. But, my question is where are we going? Labels are already cutting projects back to 10 songs, dropping artist, and cutting retail prices by 15%. Artist are being charged unreasonable recoupments by their labels, not getting paid royalties on time, suffering a shortage of concerts and losing shelf space.

If the labels are going to charge artists unreasonable recoupments, and wash any profits under the table, then PROTECT your product. Labels, are less concerned in gospel, because their money has already been made.

But, can't we think past the recoupment stage? Can we think beyond reaching the industry standard? Can we look past selling 9,000 units because that's what the average artist is moving? The industry is dropping it's standard, cutting the consumers out of more music, cheating the artists, publishers, and writers out of their money. If the labels and owners are going to bark about every issue and going to spend big money to showcase their clients with ads and lavish projects, then start protecting your product.

Lobby and educate consumers about the file sharing. Go on these sites and demand users and hosts to stop using your products, hire a lawyer to certify letters to the file sharing companies. And for the consumers, stop stealing people's music. Every time you rip a copy of someone's CD's to give to someone else, you could just as well have stuck your hand in their cash box and grabbed you a $20.00 bill. You my friend, just took $15.00.

The artists pick the songs, sing the songs, pay the musicians, fight for their creative control, spend endless months recording, radio tours, photo shoots, single releases, leave their families, fight the politics of the industry, suffer concert disappointments, bad checks from promoters and churches, rising fuel costs, travel thousands of miles, sleep sometimes 3 hours a night, set up and sing, stand on their feet 10 hours a night, pray endless for their ministry. Then here comes Aunt Mable to stand at their tape table and decide which CD's you will buy and burn for each other. Stop stealing!! I hope Southern Gospel consumers, labels, and artists will help educate the public.

I would love to know everyone's take on this.

Do consumers have the right to download Southern Gospel music?
Do you feel it's stealing, if the consumer can't find it anywhere else?

Rick Hendrix
http://www.rickhendrix.com

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