Praise Music Is Big Bucks
Says USA Today:
Hooked on Mood Modification
By Rev. Jack Cascione

 

In 1995 Dr. David Luecke wrote "The Other Story of Lutherans at Worship," widely read in the LCMS, and a must read for contemporary worship groupies. It was there that I first read about the CCLI song list of thousands of contemporary worship songs available through Christian Copyright and Licensing Corporation. They send you the disk, or you log on to the Internet. Then you down load the songs for Sunday worship that you like and they automatically calculate the licensing fee and deduct the fee from your account.

While pointing out errors in Luecke's book, he filed charges against me in dispute resolution in 1995. The matter was finally settled when Luecke agreed to confess one of the three ecumenical creeds without modification in his worship services at least once a month. This conflict led to the publication of "Reclaiming the Gospel in the LCMS" available from CN for $5.00. A copy was sent to every delegate of the 1998 LCMS Convention. This led to the adoption of a resolution stating that LCMS congregations should not confess modified and invented Creeds in worship services.

Now six years later, we read in the following article published in "USA Today" that the CCLI song-list and contemporary worship music business has grown into a 100 million dollar plus industry involving Time Life and the Nasdaq. It may be too late for CPH. We wonder if Luecke had the foresight to buy the stock?

We say God bless corporate America. Contemporary music is clearly about how good it makes us feel when we sing it and not what it says. The beat and rhythm are more about mood adjustment and modification than sound doctrine, repentance, forgiveness, and the proper distinction of law and Gospel. These criteria would bankrupt any contemporary music corporation. So if it feels good, sing it. There are no rules but right, and the majority of the COP will deliver whatever sells in the worship marketplace.

Narrow is the gate that leads to heaven and there are few that go there, no matter what the profit margin.


Friday October 19, 2:52 pm Eastern Time
Press Release: SOURCE: Integrity Incorporated

USA Today Article 'Praise Hymn With An Upbeat' Highlights Growing Role Of Praise and Worship Music in American Society

MOBILE, Ala., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Integrity Incorporated (Nasdaq: ITGR - news), a media/communications company that produces, publishes and distributes Christian music and related products, today announced that it would like to alert investors to an article entitled "Praise Hymn With An Upbeat'' that appears in the Life section of the October 19, 2001 issue of USA Today.

The article, which quotes Integrity's Executive Vice President Don Moen and its Chief Marketing Officer Dan McGuffey, addresses the growing popularity of new praise and worship songs and music within Christian church congregations throughout America. The author of the article, Brian Mansfield, describes how many new praise and worship songs are being widely adopted by congregations and sung in churches and at other worship events within months after being written. ``In years past, such songs might have taken 10 to 15 years to make a widespread impact,'' noted Mr. Mansfield in the article.

Other statements from the article:
By far the biggest success story is the "Songs 4 Worship" album series, a joint venture of Time Life Music and Integrity Music backed by an estimated $30 million in TV advertising. Since its launch late last year, "Songs 4 Worship" has become Time Life's most successful continuity program ever. "Shout to the Lord,'' the first of six titles in the "Songs 4 Worship" series, has sold 1.8 million copies; more than a million customers have signed up to receive additional two-disc collections every four weeks.

"'The Songs 4 Worship' phenomenon is the biggest thing to hit the industry this year,'' says Integrity's Chief Marketing Officer, Dan McGuffey. He says Integrity chooses tracks based on Christian Copyright Licensing International's quarterly reports of the 500 most requested licenses, lists reflecting the preferences of churchgoers. "There's nothing in pop that gets that kind of steady rotation,'' he says. "If those are the most-sung songs year after year in an audience 30 million strong, there's a much broader audience out there that may not be reached by traditional retail.''

"I've never seen a time like this, when so many great songs are being written,'' said Don Moen, a noted worship leader and Executive Vice President of Christian media company Integrity Incorporated.

For years, Christian record labels had striven to construct a wholesome alternative to mainstream pop. In the wake of "Third Day" and collections such as the "Songs 4 Worship" series, though, the emphasis has shifted dramatically toward worship. "It's almost like God is trying to redefine the whole Christian music industry,'' Moen says.

If there's a defining lyrical theme in the new music, Moen adds, it's that "the songs are becoming more vertical. Rather than singing songs about God, they're singing songs to God.''

Integrity Incorporated, the world's largest producer of praise and worship music, is a media/communications company that produces, publishes and distributes Christian music and related products. It is a producer and publisher of Christian lifestyle products developed to facilitate worship, entertainment and education. Integrity's products are sold primarily through retail stores and direct to consumers throughout the United States and in 162 countries worldwide. The Company is headquartered in Mobile, Alabama, and its common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Small Cap Market under the symbol "ITGR''. Information about Integrity, including financial and operating performance, is available on the Company's website at www.integritymusic.com/company/indexinv.html.

Some of the statements contained in this press release, particularly those anticipating future financial performance, business prospects, growth and operating strategies, new products and similar matters, are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. For those statements, the Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In addition to the factors discussed above, among the other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are: potentially changing consumer tastes and demands with respect to Christian music generally and praise and worship music in particular; the effect on operating margins of marketing and distribution costs associated with the WoW Worship releases; the effect on profit margins of a continued increase in the percentage of sales from retail sales; increases in the estimated cost of television advertising, including production costs and the cost of air time, all of which could materially affect the financial impact of the "Songs 4 Worship" series and other television advertising initiatives; the public's interest in the "Songs 4 Worship" product could decline which could lead to revenues from the sale of these products falling significantly short of the Company's expectations, and the risks identified from time to time in Integrity's SEC reports, including, but not limited to, the report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000. Any forward-looking statements represent our estimates only as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing our estimates as of any subsequent date. While we may elect to update forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so, even if our estimates change.

For additional information, please contact:
P. Michael Coleman, CEO of Integrity, Inc. at (334) 633-9000
Or RJ Falkner & Company, Investor Relations Counsel at (800) 377-9893
or via e-mail at info@rjfalkner.com
SOURCE: Integrity Incorporated


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October 22, 2001