I posted a note yesterday about a new website that’s just launched, CMDish, which in its intro email likened itself to a Christian TMZ.
As regular readers of this blog expected, I couldn’t let that go without comment.
Understandably, the folks at CMDish weren’t exactly thrilled with my post, to say the least, and responded on their site today. (Which, if you think about it, is exactly the kind of page view whoring we all have to do to make a buck. I write a post, they refute it, I have to respond. Oh the irony of it all. And just for the record, I’ve made zero dollars since May, so if you think I’m doing this to get rich, guess again.)
See, in the Christian music industry everyone likes to smile and prop each other up, which is why the founder of the site was surprised by my post. Everyone else in the industry thinks the site is a wonderful idea.
Well, at the risk of being too snarky, duh.

The labels, the publicists, everyone in Christian music loves sites like CMDish (and Beliefnet and CCM.com and every other entertainment site) because they promote their artists.
I regularly take the Christian music industry to task for blurring the lines between church and commercialism, between spirituality and selling out for a record sale.
And those of you who read this blog also know I put myself in that category, something I clearly admitted to in yesterday’s post. I hate the spin cycle, the constant promoting and posturing and patting ourselves on the back. And yet, here I am, feeding the monster every day.
It’s not a job I take lightly. That, as CMDish points out, I get my paycheck from Fox, which owns “TMZ TV”? Sure, that’s icky, but if you check the holdings of most public corporations in American you’ll see a mix of soft drinks and sex. What are you going to do? Stop drinking Coke?
In fact, it’s even like that in Christian music. Most of the labels are owned by larger conglomerates. Look at the roster for Columbia Records; there’s everyone from AC/DC to MercyMe. There is no neat dividing line between Christian and secular any more, much as we’d like to tell ourselves there is.

You know – people you know, if you’ve been reading this blog long enough – that I struggle with being part of the problem I complain about.
Trust me, this gig hasn’t been easy. I’ve been the target of horrible internet gossip and lies. I’ve had crazy people contact me at home. I’ve worked for no pay. I’ve been hounded by every artist from here to Nova Scotia to please, please listen to their CD.
So why do I still do it? If for no other reason than to make one Christian music fan rethink their deification of Chris Tomlin or Third Day or the superstar du jour, then I’ll get up every day and rifle through the two foot stack of press kits and the hundred press releases to find something that isn’t completely inane and report on it. And no, it won’t be Natalie Grant’s kidney stones.
So if you think I was too hard on CMDIsh, my apologies. In the interest of fairness, I’ve offered CMDish founder Rick Hall the opportunity to do guest blog post about his site, the notion of promoting Christian music, what a big jerk I am, whatever he wants. I’ll keep you posted if he takes me up on the offer.
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