The music industry has become a pretty major passion of mine, thanks to my career and ministry in radio. Anything I do is a result of what the industry is doing, whether it’s good or bad. For the last six years that I’ve been developing my career in radio and mass media, I’ve had no choice but to keep my fingers on the pulse of the music industry.

• ARTISTS
• CLUB AND MOBILE DJ’S
• LABEL REPRESENTATIVES
• RADIO PROGRAMMERS AND DJ’S
• EVENT PROMOTERS

Before we really get into anything, I’d like to outline what I think these five categories include. Artists would include any person who writes music, song lyrics, or is somehow involved in the production of a song, whether that is an engineer, performer, or remixer. Club and Mobile DJ’s include those who spin primarily in the clubs, on stage, or for other commercial outlets. Label Representatives involve anyone working or volunteering in any department of a record label of any size. Radio Programmers and DJ’s include program directors, music directors, promotions directors, and those who either produce and/or host programs on radio that directly or remotely involve dance music. Event Promoters include those who throw parties, raves, club events, or church events; also those who run clubs, churches, concert tours, outreach or worship oriented ministries, etc.

Let me shoot out one more set of definitions, before we really get into it. I’ve narrowed down every aspect of dance music into what I believe are these three sections:

• MAINSTREAM INDUSTRY
• UNDERGROUND INDUSTRY
• CHRISTIAN INDUSTRY
  

When I refer to the Mainstream Industry, I’m specifically talking about music that is marketed to places including: top 40 radio stations, television, top 40 dance clubs, MTV, major media events like the Olympics and the Super Bowl.

The Underground Industry is the area where most of us are probably the most familiar. I would define the underground industry as the music that you can’t purchase at Best Buy and Target, but the kind of stuff you can only get on vinyl from your local record store, if you’re lucky enough to catch it in stock. I would also include all of you who aren’t signed to any labels and your music is mostly available on CD-R and .mp3 format.

Lastly, the ever-argued-over Christian Industry. I would define this as any music that is signed to a record label run by Christians, aimed at specifically targeting Christian media outlets. I would also include here DJ’s who consider themselves worship leaders and do events mostly in church settings, or artists who feel that they are writing worship music, even when there are no lyrics.

So, the point of defining our roles in the industry (the first list) was so that we all can get a sense of where we belong. To use myself for example, I fall into the categories Artists, Club and Mobile DJ’s, Radio, and Event Promoters. Yes, I am a busy man. As an artist, I have both written lyrics, performed as a vocalist, and created remixes and original tracks. As a club/mobile DJ, I have performed at various events including some that were hosted by my church, and at places like the Cornerstone Festival, and the Underground. I also program and co-host a radio program called “Electric Circus”, of which I am also the resident DJ. Lastly, though I don’t do this very often, I have worked as an event promoter before, in making a dance venue happen twice at a young adult festival hosted by my church called “Breathe”.

Take a minute to think about and define where you fall into the industry.

More than likely, you already do or could fit in with at least one of those areas. Now, tastyfresh is a place dedicated to people who say that they are followers of Christ, and first I want to talk about what I believe is the single most important aspect of our industry, that being Jesus.

Jesus sacrificed everything that He was in order that we could finally breach the gap that sin has created between us, and God. For each and every one of us who has discovered who Jesus really is, we’ve all experienced some sort of miraculous change in our lives. Now, it doesn’t end there. It’s been said before in a million cheesy ways, but I’ll go ahead and say it again. Jesus gave us one task, and that is to bring his truth into the world. Let me say that again in a not-so-Christianese way.

The word “Jesus” has become a joke to our culture, but there’s no denying for me how real he is, and how real he’s changed me. There’s only one thing he wants me to do, and that is to help other people understand who he really is, because most people on this planet have really screwed up his reputation and made him look like an idiot.

Now here’s the thing with dance music culture. It’s dangerous, just like any other culture is. Tractor truck rallies are dangerous. I may look at them and think, “Wow a bunch of rednecks, drinking cheap beer and watching something really stupid!” But you know what? There are a lot of “stupid rednecks” that are wasting their lives away in something that is destined to die and fail. Guess what? The dance music industry and techno culture is mostly a stupid waste of time, something that’s destined to die and fail. Why? Because on the big picture, God is not a part of it. No, really! You’ve probably heard it said before, but if not, God is the only source of life in the universe. If any person, or any thing, or any idea or feeling doesn’t have God right there with it, then it’s going to die. And when it dies, it’s going to hurt people… a lot.

Think about the traditional ideas surrounding dance culture. People taking ecstasy on the weekends and ending up with addictions, STD’s, the list goes on. These people obviously don’t see God in the culture. Conversely, there are people deeply involved in dance culture and have Jesus right there with them. They’re alive, excited, living a life that they wouldn’t trade in for anything. This our mission, people. We’ve got to show people who Jesus really is, so that they can inject some God into their lives and stop living a life of excruciating pain.

Now, finally, I feel like I’m getting to the point of this article. And here it is. Our industry needs a foundation, and I believe that those of us involved with tastyfresh are the only ones who are going to build it. When you build a strong building, you first have to dig out and place a good foundation. Pads, footers, concrete, the list goes on. Otherwise, some obese dude could lean on it the wrong way, and the whole thing will fall over. That’s a lot of money to waste because you didn’t know how to build a building. Or, to use a direct metaphor, that’s a lot of time, energy, sweat and tears spent on a ministry or project which is destined to fail because you don’t have a strong foundation for it.

When I look at the mainstream dance music industry, I’m not sure if I see anything good. I’ll shoot off some names like Stryke (who performed at the VMA’s) and Andy Hunter (who has gotten a lot of publicity over the internet, video games and movies). However, I don’t see any good Christian people landing singles in top 40 radio, or really being recognized by name on a major, global way.

When I look at the Christian industry, I honestly just want to scream and punch a hole through the wall, or sob. I’m not going to make this a bashing session. All I will say is that, across the board, I have seen nothing but failure from the Christian industry when it comes to dance music. I attribute it to this: The people in the industry who have the money and positioning either don’t want to invest anything in dance music, or they have no idea how to do it right what so ever. The people in the industry who do understand dance music (and I’d venture to say they understand it very well) have, basically, no funding, no promotion, and no support.

Then, I take a look at the underground side of things, and I see tons of progress. There are tons of great producers, making tons of great tracks. And I won’t deny that it’s making a difference. I’m very impressed with what so many of you are doing.

But I have to say this, because it’s one of my deepest felt convictions. I really feel that God needs some of you to get into the mainstream or Christian industries in a serious way. Maybe even both. And yes, I said need. I didn’t say that God would really think it might be a neat idea but necessary. Believe this, it is necessary.

God needs someone to make Jesus look good on top-40 radio with a dope four-to-the-floor beat behind it. God needs for people to actually want to hear dance music on Christian radio. I can’t even begin to give you a reason to prove this either, because God’s plan is so much larger than anything I could conjure up, and even if I could, it would be impossible to explain it all before I’m 90 years old and unable to type thanks to my arthritis. I just know it, deep inside my heart.

What we all need to do, is first, we need to pray. We need to pray that we wouldn’t be stubborn anymore. We need to pray that our trivial little arguments would end. We need to pray that somehow God will use us for something bigger, and that we might actually show people that Jesus isn’t a retard and that this isn’t just one big cult. We need to pray for people who are leaders, because let me tell you, they can have pretty sucky lives. We need to pray that even if they do have sucky lives, God would give them joy. We need to pray for their families, their finances, and their physical health. We just need to pray, a lot.

But back to my house metaphor – the whole thing is going to get knocked over if we don’t have a firm foundation.

Let me take this moment to try and be a leader. Here’s what we need to do. Each and every one of us needs to make sure that we have a foundation in Christ, and if not, we need to get our butts out of the scene and ministry for a while until we do. If you don’t have a foundation in Christ, you are going to be poisonous to our mission, if not now then later. Once your foundation is secure (and I would hazard to say you should get the guidance of a pastor just to make sure it’s really secure), you need to really look to Christ for direction. I think we all go through a phase of being “on fire” where we just want to do everything and anything. But you’d better believe that’s not how it works. ESPN didn’t become the world’s most popular sports network because they were wasting their time doing cooking shows, covering weather, and being the first network to air the latest blockbuster film. Rather, they knew what they had to do, and they did it with excellence and based upon a good, firm, and organized foundation. This reflects the “Body of Christ” metaphor you can see in 1 st Corinthians 12, especially versus 14 - 26.

In the next issue of the Tastyfresh E-Zine, I will be writing a similar article based off the “what the industry needs to sell music” thread. Until then, I urge you to take the time and make sure you have a strong foundation, but in your own heart, but also in whatever it is you plan on doing for ministry.

DJ Rish / apoq.79 can be reached by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it