college vs. semipro

[mattootb]

[jared allen]

Each group does sell over 50,000 copies, not combined in the first 3 months of the release. I don't know what their sales are after the first 3 months of the release but I would have to imagine it would be around 5000 to 10,000 copies per year. Both of the groups have over 4 CD's too. Talk about a nice part time income.

By the way I predict Jazz lose in 7 games to the Spurs.

[whataboutrob]

We discussed it a bit when we were talking about BYU a cappella and it's new-found place at the top of the ICCA pile (having your all-girl and all guy group from the same campus win it two out of three years! Nuts!)

I think the reason a cappella is so popular in Utah is the same reason that a cappella is popular at BYU: Singing is "cool" because it's such an integral part of religious life, and religious life is central to a large number of Utah citizen's lives. You know where Utah actually reminds me of? England, where Anglican Choirs are very much a part of the religious/educational experience in a way that it's just not elsewhere in the US (Everytime you walk into a store and buy one of those "MOST SOOTHING CHORAL MUSIC EVER" volumes, you're likely buying music made by a Cambridge or Oxford Choir, and these are COLLEGE kids).

In England, this popularity of choral music translated into the success of groups like the Kings Singers, who are very good "choral" singers indeed, they're just doing sort of cheeky Beatles covers instead of Byrd. Correct me if I'm wrong, but "contemporary a cappella" (VP, soloist brought out in the recording, etc) is still a relatively new thing in England. I think I remember Matt from OTB saying on this Forum that their new album (whch I haven't heard yet) was a big step for them in terms of "contemporary recording process", like groups in the US have been doing for close to a decade now. The Oxford group at this year's ICCA finals wore formal dress and sang a lot of what I might call pseudo-choral jazz, and sounded nice enough doing it. You get my point.

In Utah, though, they've managed to do something which is even more interesting/wonderful: they've taken really good choral technique, and moved into the area of "contemporary a cappella" singing, whose focus on "proper technique" isn't much at all, and rather than sounding uptight or somehow uncomfortable, they sound really good (And trust me, Ronald Staheli, Brady Allred, et al. teach VERY good technique at the Universities in Utah. I've been a big fan of Dr. Staheli's for years, whose choirs always sound amazing, and Brady is actually an old mentor of mine. I'll take the college choirs in Utah right up against those from Cambridge or Oxford any day of the week and twice on Sundays).

It's really cool to see the evolution of singers who come from a really solid "choral" background into really good contemporary a cappella singers. Essentially turning the legacy of a really great English art form (really: Anglican Choral singing-Eastern American Christian Choral singing-Mormon Choral singing-Contemprary a cappella in Utah) into a distinctly AMERICAN art form. Think about it, contemporary a cappella today is really a truly American art form: it's largely American popular music that's been re-thought and performed in a way that had never been done before, and other countries are fast picking it up. That's awesome!

What's even more interesting is how groups at BYU (and I suspect other college groups in Utah, although my knowledge of the college a cappella scene in Utah is limited to the guys and gals at BYU) is their ability to program "spiritual" music right alongside their contemporary fare without missing a beat. Go here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=_lM0W1oMtIk and tell me that doesn't give you chills. I mean, I'm not really much of a Christian at all, and this makes me want to start putting spiritual music in my group's program.

Even cooler than that: BYU's a cappella groups, because of their strong choral training, are more familiar with "world" choral music, and use it in their programs. I forget the name of the piece they did at this years at ICCA's, but Noteworthy was the onle group I can remember doing something that wasn't American pop, and it was one of my favorite songs of the night.

What's the point of all this? I guess I'm really not surprised that groups in Utah (pro, semi-pro or college) sell so many cds. I think there's a larger point too (if you've managed to get through all of this), and that is: get your community involved. Use your local churches, if not for concerts than at least for general support. Get schools in your area involved, get a local business to sponsor your group, enlist the local high school kids (and college kids) to sell your cds, and pay them to do it. You'll probably sell more cds, expand your fanbase, and get a new pipeline of people looking to join your group when they're old enough.

An idea just occured to me: has anyone ever done a masterclass with a local community choir of adults (maybe a local church choir?)? These are people who sing because they love it, and maybe they're looking for a creative outlet and contemporary a cappella might get some new creative minds, or at least fans. I'd be interested to know.

[mattootb]

[jthelegend]

[carlyonders]

[jared allen]

They go through distribution channels so they make $5 to $7 per CD. But that is still a pretty penny. Drop me a line if you would like to discuss it more in depth.

[jared allen]

[billhare]

[jduchan]

Those are pretty impressive numbers, although the Mormon network certainly helps to explain them. But I'll reiterate a question asked earlier:

Who are these groups? Do they have names? Can the rest of us look them up?

[jared allen]

[tekay]

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