Despite its $1,000 per ticket price tag, a fundraising concert for the cash-strapped Gospel Music Association (GMA) is expected to draw thousands of attendees from around the globe.
The Monday event, being billed as the "Concert of the Decade," is to be streamed live online from Nashville, Tenn., which organizers say will make it the largest Christian concert ever to be viewed in that format.
The concert—featuring some of the industry's leading artists including Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Kirk Franklin and Casting Crowns—is part of an effort to save the GMA, which organizes GMA Week in Nashville and hosts the Dove Awards.
A 20 percent drop in membership coupled with the economic downturn and the impact of digital sales has left the organization fighting to survive, leaders say.
Its president and CEO, John Styll, stepped down in September as part of a concentrated "re-set" of the organization that includes using more volunteers, Christian Retailing reported. A managerial position will oversee a reduced staff, said Ed Leonard, president of Daywind Music Group and new chairman of the GMA board of directors.
(Read "GMA Regroups for Survival as Full-Time Head Steps Down.")
Leonard said the fundraising concert—spearheaded by EMI CMG Publishing President Eddie DeGarmo and The Premiere Group founder Roy Morgan—was intended to retire ongoing debt incurred from a last-minute sponsorship drop for the Dove Awards five years ago.
The concert venue, the Loveless Café & Barn in Nashville, "seats around 800 and our payables are about $800,000," Leonard told Christian Retailing. "If we sell it out, we pay off the debt and reset the organization. That's what we're trying to do."
Online concertgoers must reserve a ticket at ConcertoftheDecade.com. Although attending the concert online is free, participants will be encouraged to make tax-deductible donations to the GMA Foundation.
Godbeat.com, HearItFirst.com and 316Networks.com, in support of the Gospel Music Association (GMA), have agreed to offer a live web broadcast of the October 12th concert event featuring some of Christian and Gospel musics most renowned artists. The concert will be aired at www.ConcertoftheDecade.com and feature notable performers Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Casting Crowns, MercyMe, Natalie Grant, Kirk Franklin, Point of Grace, Fisk Jubilee Singers and The Booth Brothers. The collaboration between these two websites and 316Networks.com, a video platform provider, will create the largest Christian concert ever streamed exclusively online, according to the website executives.
We are thrilled to be able to offer our services and website to the Gospel Music Association to allow fans a chance to attend this once-in-a-lifetime concert event, says Jeff Myers, president and founder of Godbeat.com and Godbeat Media. To have these artists on one stage together is utterly amazing. This may never happen again. The GMA has been the backbone of the Christian Music Industry for years and we are glad to partner with HearItFirst.com and 316Networks.com to help make this concert a great success.
The tremendous artist lineup coupled with a great cause is right in line with what HearItFirst.com is all about, says Mark Adkison, president and founder, HearitFirst.com. Were all about connecting fans to some of the best artists the gospel music industry has to offer, and this event is the epitome of that goal. Our hope is that fans around the world will take advantage of being part of this historical event.
The concert is a fundraiser for the Gospel Music Association and will be $1,000 per ticket (all figures U.S.) for those attending the event at the Loveless Café & Barn in Nashville. However, there will be no charge for the world-wide live stream, although fans will need to reserve a ticket at www.ConcertoftheDecade.com. Although attending the concert online is free, tax-deductible donations to the GMA Foundation, a 501©3 corporation (Fed ID 62-0783972) will be encouraged during the broadcast. The artists involved as well as the websites have all donated their time and expenses to support the GMA Foundation.
This will be a concert that will appeal to Christian music fans across the globe, says Eddie DeGarmo, President, EMI CMG Publishing and member of the GMA Executive Committee. I cant remember another occasion when so many marquee artists appeared on the same stage together.
For more information, visit www.ConcertoftheDecade.com.
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Eddie DeGarmoby CampElectric3,246 views
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