"As Christian Singer is Arrested for Rape, More Troubles for Christian Music Loom"
Outside magazine takes a look at Christian environmentalists—and their Christian opponents
Ted Olsen
March 1, 2001
Ja'Marc Davis, member of Christian band Raze, jailed on charges of rape and molestation
The Christian dance band Raze says it will continue to tour despite the arrest of one of its four members, Ja'Marc Antoine Davis. Davis, 25, was arrested after the band's first concert in a scheduled 30-city tour, and charged with five counts of lewd molestation, three counts of rape by instrumentation, and three counts of forcible sodomy. Police say that in 1998, Davis (then 22) began a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl he was asked to tutor; she soon became a backup dancer for Raze.
Christian music in trouble, says TheWallStreetJournal
"Since 1997, [Christian music] sales have lagged behind that of the general music marketplace, with album units down 6 percent last year, compared with 4 percent growth for the overall industry," reports Rodney Ho in The Wall Street Journal. "Christian music's market share is now 5.6 percent, with 44 million albums sold in 2000, down from a peak of 6.5 percent in 1997." The problem, according to Ho? Christian music grew big in the mid-1990s "thanks to mostly middle-aged Christian adults [who] favored softer adult contemporary sounds, and the labels catered to them with recordings by such artists as Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant." But that's not really where the music money is to be made; as a general rule, the older the listener, the fewer CDs purchased. To stem the tide, Christian music labels are trying to sign Backstreet Boys/N'Sync clones like Plus One. But even that might not be enough, says Ho; acts like N'Sync are made through radio play, and there just aren't enough Christian music radio stations catering to youth. Frank Breeden, president of the Christian Music Trade Association, estimates ...
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