The results are in for our online survey, Gospel Music Artists Expand Their Profits Beyond Music To Reality TV. The survey was conducted with Internet users between July 24 and August 1, 2014. Its purpose was to discover how you feel about gospel music artists stepping outside of their Christian and church base to make mega bucks in the secular entertainment world through the vehicle of reality TV.
The 10-question survey was conducted through Survey Monkey and Facebook’s e-poll. Links to the survey on Survey Monkey were posted on linwoodsinspiredmedia.com and social media networks Twitter and Facebook. A question was also posted in reference to the topic on Reddit.com
Data: Survey Monkey http://svy.mk/1xUbBii
Infographic: easel.ly
Based upon the resurvey results, Mary Mary’s show on WeTV is your favorite faith based reality TV show. There were 56 respondents who participated on the Survey Monkey survey. Mary Mary received 41 percent of the vote, followed by Preachers of L.A. with 16 percent. The Sheards received seven percent and Ben Tankard and his family’s show, Thicker Than Water received three percentage points. Thirty-one percent didn’t prefer either of these shows. Other shows not listed that respondents watched included, BET’s Sunday Best and Lutheran Hour Ministries’ radio show, The Intersection of Church and State with Greg Seltz.
A key question on the multiple-choice survey was, “Do you think gospel artists and preachers expanding their profits to reality TV is a good thing?” Forty-six percent voted yes. Another 46 percent said no, and seven percent clicked “other.” Comments left under “other” included: “Yes, if what they are representing on TV is not of any embarrassment to the Kingdom of God,” and “Yes as long it’s fulfillment is Godly.”
A hot button question was, “Do you think faith-based reality TV shows have tainted the views people once had of its gospel artists, preacher stars and Christians in general?” Seventy-three percent answered yes. Nineteen percent said no. Seven percent chose “other.”
Elvin Ross, Tyler Perry’s musical director/music producer for all of this TV and film projects, who makes his directorial and writing debut on the documentary, Kunta Kinteh Island, weighed in on the survey topic. He said, “I do agree the church has to have a business side in order to run of course…but the business should be about the ministry. But when you start making the ministry entertainment, the lines get blurred. When you start coming into the pastor’s home and you start seeing his indiscretions, his hurts, his pain and all of that kind of stuff, and it’s just entertainment, and there’s not healing for those that are out there and are looking for healing or…wanting to be saved.. Like I said, the church just needs to remain sacred.”
A key question on the survey was, “Do you think gospel artists and preachers expanding their profits to reality TV is a good thing?” The survey results yielded yes from 46 percent and no from 46 percent. Seven percent clicked “other.” Comments left under “other” included: “Yes, if what they are representing on TV is not of any embarrassment to the Kingdom of God,” and “Yes as long it’s fulfillment is Godly.”
Infographic created by Lin. Woods
Source: Survey Monkey: http://svy.mk/1xUbBii
A hot button question was, “Do you think faith-based reality TV shows have tainted the views people once had of its gospel artists, preacher stars and Christians in general?” Seventy-three percent answered yes. Nineteen percent said no. Seven percent chose “other.”
DA Johnson, General Manager of Light Records, a division of E One Music, was also included among the gospel music entertainment experts we interviewed outside of this survey. He said, “I think its great for a person to be able to expand their brand…I think anytime you could reach people and disperse the message of faith and hope is a good thing…and the company that I work for now is the number one independent…or distributor of content…so my goal is to just continue the legacy of the brand.”
Johnson’s response to gospel artists expanding their profits to reality TV was included on our Lin. Woods’ Gospel Entertainment Podcast, posted to linwoodsinspiredmedia.com on July 20, 2-14. To date, it has generated 36 plays on podomatic.
Fifty-one percent of the respondents on the survey were female and forty-seven percent were male. Seventy-one percent were between 18 and 54 years old. Twenty-two percent were 55 to 64 or older. Seventy-one percent were African American. Eleven percent identified themselves as White. One percent was mixed race.
Data source: Survey Monkey, http://svy.mk/1xUbBii Infographic template: easel.ly
Of the 56 total survey respondents, 52 came from the survey link posted on Twitter and Facebook. Three responses were received from the actual survey posted on Facebook, while three people took the survey on linwoodsinspiredmedia.com
The Facebook e-poll survey only received two responses. Participants were asked, “Do you think gospel artists expanding their profits to reality TV is a good thing?” One person said yes. The other respondent said no.
The question, “Do you get our reality fix on by watching Preachers of L.A. or Mary Mary ?” was posted on July 23, 2014 and Reddit.com to followers of its Christianity, Christian Music and True Christian categories. A total of nine comments were received. Among them was, “What I don’t like is the way they make Christians look like a joke,” from UrbanFoodGrower
“Gospel Music Artists Expand Their Profits Beyond Music To Reality” is a topic we will continue to explore this summer. We thank everyone that participated in the survey. The full results from the survey are available at Survey Monkey.