Dave's Top Eight

1. Jerry Reed...Revisited by Darrell Toney (reviewed 6/07) (5 Stars)
2. Sounds Like Sunday by Janet Paschal (reviewed 5/07) (5 Stars)
3. True To The Call by Kingdom Heirs (reviewed 3/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
4. Revival by Gold City (reviewed 10/06) (4 1/2 Stars)
5. Get Away Jordan by Ernie Haase & Signature Sound (reviewed 2/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
6. Breakin' Chains by Three Bridges (reviewed 5/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
7. Big Sky by The Isaacs (reviewed 4/07)
8. Skywriting by Mercy's Well (reviewed 7/07)

Click title to purchase at CBD.com...click artist name to read Dave's Review. A CD will automatically fall out of the Top Eight after twelve months if no CD surpasses it before then.

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Independent Creativity, Mass Distribution
Schedule Snapshot
Outcome Still Pending
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Wannabe Bass Singer Alert
AUDIO/PODCAST INTERVIEW>> Joel & LaBreeska Hemphil...

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January 19, 2007

1976 Kingsmen Schedule Snapshot

In response to my "Schedule Snapshot" post from a few days ago, Dean Adkins was kind enough to dig into his collection of Singing News magazines and tally some figures from 1976 for the Kingsmen Quartet. The chart at the bottom of this post shows how the numbers compare. (I modified the "big date" percentage for the current group from the previous chart. Their 2/10/2007 date is at the Manatee Civic Center, which seats 4000.)

Bottom line...when Southern Gospel was supposedly riding high, before "CCM" had ever taken hold, the Kingsmen Quartet were already working themselves ragged. I can't speculate with regard to the relative income of the 1970s group, but even if you were filthy rich, when would you have time to enjoy your wealth? The current Kingsmen aren't working nearly as many dates.

In fairness, I should point out that the 4 month schedule of the current group is misleading. They only had two April dates listed at the time I compiled the data and the January data prior to the 11th had already been taken down. If you only look at February and March 2007, their dates per month figure would be 12.5. That's still far less than the 16 plus dates per month sustained over an extended period by the group in 1976.

So what's the point in comparing all these figures?

I think it's good for fans to have an idea of just how hard the most popular groups in the industry work in order to sustain their existing popularity and make ends meet. There are some exceptions, fortunately. A group like the Kingdom Heirs "has it made" compared to many groups since they're able to do the vast majority of their dates in the same location. On the other hand, a group like the Gaither Vocal Band is clearly getting paid an income that's well above average with substantially less effort than most groups in terms of travel. They're so successful, they're able to share the exposure (and wealth?) with the Homecoming entourage, not to mention the regular musicians, stage hands, transportation people, food people, etc. (I'm sure they get paid.)

The business practices and marketing techniques that propel a group to mass fame are of great interest to me, both as a fan and an industry observer. So much of the infrastructure enjoyed by many other genres of music is missing in Southern Gospel, quality radio and concert promotion being first and second respectively. While part of this may be due to the general reluctance of Christians to pay for gospel entertainment, one need only look at Praise & Worship/Christian Pop to see artists who play fewer dates per year and for much larger audiences, plus there's a significant demand for their products. So that isn't the issue. It also can't be blamed on the reluctance of fans to experience "old fashioned" Southern Gospel, because there are exceptions in the Gaither Vocal Band, Ernie Haase & Signature Sound and groups that have their fans trained to come to them rather than going to their fans (Kingdom Heirs/Triumphant Quartet).

The schedule data is just one symptom of an industry that isn't healthy, and evidently hasn't really ever BEEN healthy (if the 1976 data is any indication). I'm hoping there are some astute readers out there who can examine these symptoms of the SG industry, diagnose the "illness" or "illnesses," and come up with some plausible treatments to improve the industry's health.

(Can you tell I've been watching ER reruns? Season 6 is out on DVD now!)

Anyway...here's the 1976 Kingsmen Quartet data with the current group's data listed for comparison:




GROUPDATESMONTHSDATES PER MONTH"BIG" DATESMULTI-DAY EVENTS
1976 Kingsmen Quartet1801116.3629.4%6.6%
Current Kingsmen Quartet36492.7%0%

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posted by David Bruce Murray @ 11:36:00 PM


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