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MUSIC BUZZ: Christian music sales outpace secular tunes

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–The Christian Music Trade Association (CMTA) has announced 2001 year-end album sales just shy of 50 million units, establishing a new record for sales of contemporary Christian and gospel music in the United States. Album sales outpaced 2000 by 13.5 percent in a year that saw the overall music industry album sales off nearly 3 percent.

Total sales of contemporary Christian and gospel albums ended the year at 49,965,000 units, according to SoundScan. That total exceeded 1999’s best of 46,852,000 album units and 2000’s 44,031,000. Sales were up across the board, at mainstream and Christian chain and independent retailers.

“2001 was undeniably one of our nation’s most difficult years — with a troubled economy and the terrorist attacks of 9-11,” Frank Breeden, CMTA president and Gospel Music Association president, said in the Jan. 14 announcement. “The substantial growth of contemporary Christian and gospel music sales in the face of declining sales in the overall music industry confirms to me that consumers see the unique role our music plays in encouraging and inspiring hope through entertainment.”

Supertones heading out on tour

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–The OC Supertones will hit the road in February for the Live & Clear Spring 2002 Tour, a follow-up to last year’s Loud and Clear Dance Party USA tour.

The spring tour will feature ForeFront rap-core/rock band PAX217, Tooth & Nail’s punk popsters Slick Shoes, and brand new Tooth & Nail act Kutless.

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The Live & Clear Tour will begin in early February and will run through the end of March. The tour is slated to hit 15-20 markets including Arlington, Texas; Des Moines, Iowa; Tulsa, Okla.; and Norfolk, Va.

The California-based band recently finished their latest recording, “Supertones Live!”

The upcoming “Supertones Live! (Vol. 1)” is the live follow-up to the Supertones’ highly acclaimed “Loud and Clear,” released in 2000.

The Supertones have sold more than 900,000 albums to date in the band’s six-year career, and Loud and Clear remained a dominant presence on the Christian market’s SoundScan rock sales chart.

FamilyNet hosts live event for True Love Waits

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)–FamilyNet will broadcast Seize the Net Goes Live! on Feb. 13 from the sanctuary of Wedgwood Baptist Church.

The one-hour broadcast will be hosted by the brother-sister duo LaRue, Christian artists who have consistently taken a stand for sexual purity. The program also will include the new Christian band, Phat Chance, and special musical guest Joy Williams.

Sponsored by True Love Waits, a movement which promotes sexual purity among teens, the program will link student rallies across the country in an annual time of commitment to abstinence before marriage.

“We are thrilled to be working with True Love Waits,” said FamilyNet Vice President of Programming Martin Coleman. “I have been privileged to know Richard Ross, who has long been a pivotal player in True Love Waits, and I am certain from his accounts that this movement is God-inspired. For nearly a decade now, it has left a legacy of strong marriages because of students’ commitments to find God’s one true love for their lives.”

Seize the Net Goes Live! will feature an interactive online commitment form along with scrolling e-mails at the bottom of the screen. Those taking part in the event will be able to send and read student online commitments and testimonies of faith and purity.
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