The Process: "Who's My Audience?"
by Shaun Groves | posted 6/01/2003
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With the release of Shaun Groves' sophomore album, Twilight, just weeks away (August 5), the artist reflects on the nature of marketing and how he'd like to see his music target a broader demographic that's not always so easy to reach.
It's a well-worn illustration. Charlie Brown shoots an arrow across the first pane of a Peanuts comic strip. In the next he's drawing a bull's-eye around an arrow—now stuck randomly in a
wall. I sometimes wonder if that's the kind of shoot-now-and-aim-later thinking driving the Christian music industry.
I've visited close to 50 radio stations and as many retailers in the last three years and discovered that many are aiming at the same target: a married white woman with small children. She's
often given a name by marketers—usually Becky or Amy—and she's thought to be anywhere from 30 to 40 years old, a Christian, and
a resident of a middle class suburb. She drives a family car—a
big one. And she's the only one giving money and time to the
businesses of Christian radio and retail.
Now, before I move on, I want to be very clear that I love "Becky." In fact, the irony is that my wife's name is Becky, and she is a white Christian mother of two who drives a Camry and
lives in a middle class suburb. I know that Becky needs music and
ministry as much as anyone else—well, sort of.
I say sort of because, while everyone needs to be ministered to, some are over-saturated at the moment with such opportunities to learn and grow in their faith. And others, right now, are not. For instance, I worked at a large church in the Nashville area and in two others before that. From my experiences on the inside
of church leadership, I know that churches work like businesses.
Time, talent, and money are primarily invested in those who will
give back—those who will bring a return on that investment.
We spend first on the tithers, the helpers, the encouragers, the
loyal.
College students are none of those things. They have little money, and what they have is spent on Ramen noodles and Kool-Aid. (They don't even buy music—but that's another essay.) They are not loyal. They church hop and rarely stay connected to one
community of believers long enough to get involved—to serve
those who serve them. So the church serves Becky. And so does the
music industry.
Right now, college students generally don't listen to Christian radio, and they don't shop at Christian bookstores either. But is that because the investment hasn't been made in them? Have we given them much to listen to or shop for? I'm not sure we have, though there are obvious exceptions like Bebo Norman, Andrew
Peterson, and Passion's worship discs.
Why is it important to care for and about college students anyway? College students, I believe, stand at a crucial crossroad of faith. It was in college, while I was away from the influence of home, that I decided whether or not my faith was in fact my own or just another fairy tale like the Easter Bunny that my
parents had sold me as real. It was in college that I began
asking questions that continue to affect my life today: Why am I
here? What are my gifts, talents, and passions? What do I want to
do with my life and why? What does God want? Who will I marry?
Should I marry? What matters? It was at that time that I began
the process of becoming a disciple of Christ.
Luckily, a man named Louie Giglio was there with the answers. Though I went to a Christian University (Baylor University in Waco, Texas), and though there was a church on every corner, I found it hard to find anyone, much less a community of people, willing to spend time and money to help me find answers to my
questions. Louie was not a pastor of a church. He led a Bible
study near campus that provided the depth, sound theology, and
friendship I needed at that crucial time. I am who I am in part
because Louie, now leader of sixsteps records and Passion
conference OneDay, decided to invest in those with little to
return.
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