Christian music may have sunk to a new low with the launch of a new TMZ-ish website, CMDish.com.
Admittedly, it’s really no different than any other Christian music website sharing stories about Christian music artists. Most, like this one, run press releases and news updates.
So maybe it’s just the promo email, that describes the site as a “mild mannered version of TMZ.com, but dedicated exclusively to the happenings of artists in the Christian community.”
The Christian music industry has long been guilty of coat tailing on mainstream trends with a Christian version of, well, everything. But do we need a Christian TMZ?
For years I’ve struggled with covering Christian music for the variety of publications I write for, because there is a very fine line between sharing news and spreading gossip. And while I know that stories like what the Jonas Brothers ate for breakfast or who Miley Cyrus is dating might drive page views, it creeps me out.
That’s why you find a lot of posts on this blog questioning Christian music and challenging fans to think outside the box. And sure, there are some brainless posts, too.
Which is why I have a hard time criticizing CMDish.com. It’s basically the same thing I do, in theory: find stories people will read. And sometimes, I have to cover stories that sometime just make me feel icky.
The difference, I hope, is that if at any time I was compared to TM, and was proud of it, I’d know it was time to find another line of work.
UPDATE: CMDish responds to this post; oh, the irony
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Beliefnet
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posted October 21, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Thanks for not selling out to the page view temptation. If Christian music is to regarded as relevant to Christians, then the coverage of it should focus on issues and viewpoints of musicians and writers that are also relevant. How one starts the day (breakfast) is irrelevant; how one spends it may very well be. I think discernment rules the day.
Oddly enough, when the secular world decides to do a non-Christian version of anything Christians have done, it is usually satire.
Thom
posted October 21, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Thom, I’ve actually passed up stuff that might have generated views b/c it made me feel like I had to take a shower, LOL. And trust me, I could reeeeaally use the page views (translation: pay).
Sometimes I wonder if it’s just time to go work at Starbucks or McDonalds or walk dogs or something … either that or I’m just getting jaded in my old age!
Joanne
host of the GS blog
posted October 21, 2009 at 9:32 pm
It looks pretty harmless. I don’t know why they compared it to TMZ. Pageviews? It worked because I clicked on it!
And if you’re looking for easy page views, (snark alert) just throw out some words that draw people offsides VERY easily (see: homosexual, satanic, is Christian rock evil? etc.)
posted October 21, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Or combine those all into one post and single-handedly shut down beliefnet!
posted November 6, 2009 at 6:31 pm
you people are a bunch of hypocrites!!!! TMZ is all about gossiping. do you not remember that its a sin to gossip at all (as per god the uptight repressed type??)?? you would label the employees as sinners but you call THIS very website “christian version of tmz”???? wtf???? what a bunch of hypocritical morons. let the one-upping begin
btw the so-called “christian” music industry IS coat tailing off the upper industries. dont even label yourself as such. competing christian artists for the top of charts. puh-lease. this is the most hilarious garbage ive seen this whole week.
posted November 6, 2009 at 6:37 pm
anyone who would compromise themself and their belief for money/page hits/fame is hella more than a sell-out. WORSE. if this were the first centuries AD, a person like that would be stoned.
there is no such thing as “christian” anything these days but people, at the bare minimum. again, christians are the most hypocritical on the issue of morals. ime and again man. if you say something, you must stick with it. live it out. dont just tell about it. be that.
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