In my desk drawer at home, I have a large collection of CDs. Years have gone by since I last touched many of them. Yet I still listen to the music, now conveniently stored on my computer hard drive. My big CD collection is now a large iTunes playlist. I know I’m not the only music-lover who has gone digital.
Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music
The internet has led to the democratization of music. New artists without an official record label can market their music online. Old artists who saw success in the past are scrambling to keep their music from being illegally downloaded.
Ripped author, Greg Kot, is on the side of music lovers. He makes the case that Napster fans should not be considered criminals. He celebrates the success of iTunes. He points to the large attendance at concerts thanks to an artist’s internet presence.
Reading this book, I was reminded how expensive CDs used to be. Remember the frustration of wanting to purchase one song only to discover you would have to buy an entire album?
But the transformation of music has both positive and negative aspects. Some of the recent developments in music cause me to say, “This is wonderful!” Other times: “I really miss this or that.” As thankful as I am for 99 cent tracks on iTunes, I think music fans lose something when we no longer support the idea of an artist putting together an entire album that tells a story or makes a compelling statement.
Greg Kot’s book is interesting, even if his analysis of music is sometimes simplistic. (Example? He demeans the “simplistic response” of conservative country anthem “Have You Forgotten?”, and cheers the complexity of “John Walker’s Blues” and “George Bush Does Not Care About Black People.” It seems to me there is plenty of simplicity and silliness on both sides of the political aisle.)
What can church leaders learn from a book like this? Two things.
First off, consider this quote from Howie Klein (a longtime executive of Reprise Records):
“We were there for the short-term needs of Wall Street, which is antithetical to the needs of a company that is supposedly founded on music. The industry was built on signing artists with a strong vision, and trusting that vision to do good work over a long period of time. Your job as a record-company man was to help them realize that. ‘If it’s a real artist, you can never go wrong.'” (8-9)
Klein recognizes that good bands often need time to carve out a niche, find a wide audience, and hone their artistic skills. Unfortunately, the focus on success now can lead to a diminishing quality of music in the long term.
Plenty of churches make the same mistake. Pastor search committees look for a visionary pastor who can lead them to immediate numerical growth. Pastors are expected to bring about instant success. This kind of pressure leads to a diminished view of the pastorate in the long term. Future effectiveness is sacrificed for immediate impact.
Secondly, the democratization of music means the digital revolution should impact how pastors and churches release information and resources. I am amazed that so many preachers and conferences still charge money for sermons online. The world of lucrative cassette-tape ministries no longer exists. Listen to the words of an e-zine editor:
“People weren’t going to buy music unless they could hear it. That is what college radio and MP3 blogs were for. It is to the band’s benefit for people to hear their music because we’re in a day when nobody buys music unless they’ve heard it. We don’t trust anyone really.”
The way that the young generation views music is the same way that we view preachers. Few young people will show up at your conference unless they have been exposed to the teaching online. Some of the evangelical leaders who lament the recent resurgence of Calvinism in Desiring God, Together for the Gospel and The Gospel Coalition fail to notice the correlation between free online resources and conference attendance (not to mention book sales).
Ripped tells the story of how the wired generation is changing music. The question for church leaders is this: will we be able to anticipate how the wired generation is leading to widespread changes in our churches?
