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How Hillsong Church conquered the music industry

christiandailyjournal.com

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Re: How Hillsong Church conquered the music industry

#141

Post by explorigin »

rjmunro wrote: post #77
explorigin wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's all about culture. If you were influenced by a high-church growing up, you're more likely appreciate hymns. People that converted without a high-church context gravitate toward a more modern style of worship. The downside of so much hillsong influence is that it dominates a culture and drowns out other modern styles. I feel like all hillsong songs sound the same.

I think that to people who haven't spent serious time listening to it, all organ/choral music "sounds the same".

Let me add some texture to my comment. When I flip through radio stations in the car, I can always identify the contemporary christian station by the music style regardless of if I've heard the song before. It's not about not hearing enough of the music to differentiate songs. It's that they all have the same elements...like Taco Bell, it's only 7 ingredients.

Re: How Hillsong Church conquered the music industry

#142

Post by GuacheSuedeHN »

expathacker wrote: post #66
samontar wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it really a scam if it’s what taxpayers want? I don’t think this is interesting because any conservative trend. It’s a cool business hack that allows you to make money without taxes.

I would argue that all religious tax-dodges are scams if you're an atheist. My businesses and lack of faith don't get a free-ride, but I have to subsidize that of somebody else's? By this logic, it's a cool business hack to run a megachurch and buy your own 737 without paying taxes, not a scam?

You can say the same thing about liberal ogansisations. why the hell does someone else have to pay for your abortion ?

Re: How Hillsong Church conquered the music industry

#143

Post by weberc2 »

camelNotation wrote: post #140
weberc2 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To speak authoritatively of "Christian theology" in the context of music in any meaningful sense, a "vote" needs to be given to every generation of Christians, not just the current one. Definitely, but we also need to consider that before the industrial revolution, Christians were limited in their options (most folks were very poor by modern standards, there isn't much diversity in music in general, and there is a…

> There is such a thing as 'progress', after all. That's a bold claim that too many people accept without question and about which too few actually consider the implications. Progress is improvement. It's moving forward. The notion requires accepting the idea that you were at one point behind where you are now or not as developed/complete/refined. That's fine if you are talking about technology or some other mundane…

You've got it switched. Progress in the context of Christianity logically follows from the notion that some things are better/truer/holier than other things. If you can accept that anything has gotten better/truer/holier over time, then you believe in progress. Specifically, if you believe it's good that the Church is no longer teaching poor people that they have to pay for their family to go to heaven, then you believe in progress. If you don't believe in progress, then you don't believe in truth/goodness/holiness, then you are actually questioning the entire faith and we can't have a meaningful conversation.

Re: How Hillsong Church conquered the music industry

#144

Post by dmix »

nickelcitymario wrote: post #111

I just wanna say, I clicked through to the comments expecting this to be a diatribe against christians and christianity, and I am thoroughly pleased to see that's not the case. As a (struggling with faith) christian, I tend to think my fellow tech heads will mock me if it comes up. And yet this post has been really respectful, largely just debating the merits of the article rather than as an opportunity to attack. Ku…

This isn't Reddit, that's for sure...

Re: How Hillsong Church conquered the music industry

#146

Post by dwd »

lgunsch wrote: post #55
dwd wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And their status is not likely to change while one of their flock is the Prime Minister.

Why would they need to change their status just because they have a large revenue from being successful? Girl Scouts, a non-profit, bring in 700 million from selling their cookies. United Way Worldwide, another non-profit, has a revenue of 3.9 Billion.

Many non-profits are simply corporates who don't pay tax. They often suffer from the same issues of pay disparity paying the executives large salaries while the workers at the bottom are often volunteers.

While most non-profits don't simply exist to fund someone's lifestyle (some do) and do provide benefits to society they should have a greater level of scrutiny to receive tax free status. Same should go for churches - particularly ones who preach "give freely and you will receive back 10 fold". There's a weird crossover between Amway and other multilevel marketing organisations and the Pentecostals. Not just the mega concert style of their events but the language they use and the attitudes you come across.

Re: How Hillsong Church conquered the music industry

#147

Post by JshWright »

zygotic12 wrote: post #145

Sorry but where are my downvote buttons?

Your account had very low karma. There is a minimum threshold of karma required in order to down vote (in order to encourage participation in the conversation, rather than just downvoting topics you don't like).

Re: How Hillsong Church conquered the music industry

#148

Post by zygotic12 »

JshWright wrote: post #147
zygotic12 wrote: post #145

Sorry but where are my downvote buttons?

Your account had very low karma. There is a minimum threshold of karma required in order to down vote (in order to encourage participation in the conversation, rather than just downvoting topics you don't like).

Sorry yes understood thanks.

Re: How Hillsong Church conquered the music industry

#149

Post by singingboyo »

bartread wrote: post #137
armandososa wrote: post #99

I've been playing in worship groups for +20 years now and I'm currently leading the youth band in a very small church and here are two things that I've been noting recently: Hillsong's music and most "mainstream" music that come from white english-spoken megachurches have lyrics that talk about "grace","love" and "God accepting you as you are". While the themes on worship music coming from South America (and I think…

> The other thing is that even while Hillsong's and similar music is very shallow and simplistic, it is becoming increasingly difficult to perform with simple, cheap instruments. So small and poor bands like ours lose appeal against the ones in megachurches with lots of instruments, talent-pool and technology. Generally a good song can hold up when performed on a single piano or acoustic guitar, and obviously with a…

> Generally a good song can hold up when performed on a single piano or acoustic guitar, and obviously with a singer[1]. The problem here is not you: it's the songs [...] using an impressive production to disguise weak songs.

I was going to take exception to this and say that a lot of choral music doesn't really fall under this because a soprano line on its own is often not great, but I think instead there's a different point to be made: don't try to take 3-4 parts verbatim out of a larger arrangement and expect it to work.

A piano, for example, does not play the same arrangement with just a choir as it would with a choir+orchestra. Similarly, a good 2-part version of a 4-part song with soprano melody[1] is rarely obtained by taking the 'soprano+alto', 'soprano+tenor', or 'soprano+bass' parts of the 4-part, but instead by using 'soprano+alto/tenor/bass' or even 'soprano+all new harmony'.

Basically, don't judge a song by how good a 1-2 parts sounds on its own. (Said differently: the important harmony or even the melody can move between singers/instruments throughout the song)

[1] Of course, for complex songs the best 2-part version of 4 parts can approach 'S/A/T/B+S/A/T/B' as the melody moves around.

Re: How Hillsong Church conquered the music industry

#150

Post by peterburkimsher »

jonshariat wrote: post #101
packetslave wrote: post #98

The other 900lb gorilla in the contemporary Christian music world today is Bethel Church, in Redding CA. They've put out as much if not more of than Hillsong in terms of the music played in contemporary churches these days. Too bad their great music hides some "interesting" theology, IMHO.

Yes, Jesus Culture is the other big player in the space.

There's also IHOP, Passion 268Generation (Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, David Crowder Band), and Worship Central from the UK (Tim Hughes, Ben Cantelon).
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