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Where is the music, Garth? These days, when it comes to discovering new music or listening to your favorites, streaming is undeniably king. A recent study found that streaming makes up 84% of music industry revenue, and Spotify alone reports having 110 million monthly active users in the United States. And more importantly, nearly 90% of their users fall into the highly-coveted (by advertisers and artists alike) 18-34 demographic. But none of them can listen to Garth Brooks. It’s a well-known fact that the “Friends In Low Places” singer refuses to license his music to Spotify or Apple Music, which combined make up around 50% of streaming users. He even briefly created his own streaming platform called GhostTunes back in 2014, but unsurprisingly it didn’t last long. Instead, if you want to hear “The Dance” or “The Beaches of Cheyenne,” you have to stream them on Amazon Music – which ranks fourth globally among streaming platforms with only about 11% market share (and many of those users only have Amazon Music because you get it automatically when you sign up for Amazon Prime). Garth has explained his resistance to streaming in the past by claiming that he was taking a stand for songwriters, who get only a fraction of the royalties for streams that they do for physical sales like vinyl or CDs: “I stick up for the songwriters because I’m freakin’ one of them. Everything I do for the songwriters, I do for myself. I’m the most selfish guy you’ve ever met, okay? But if we don’t take care of these songwriters, what do you guys have to play? … And I hope that songwriters want to get a Garth Brooks cut. One, because I hope that they think that it would be cool. But two, right behind it closely, I hope it’s because they know that if you’re a Garth Brooks songwriter, you’re going to get paid.” Of course Garth is notorious for releasing a new box set containing his most popular CDs every few years, and it seems that part of his argument for signing an exclusive streaming deal with Amazon Music is that they’re also a physical retailer, so he can still sell copies of his music to fans through their platform. And at one point, Garth’s stand was a principled one shared by many artists: Taylor Swift removed her music from Spotify back in 2014 to protest the low royalties, before ultimately returning in 2017. Prince did the same, before his music ultimately returned to the platform following his death. Now, it seems Garth is the only notable holdout – and it’s hurting his own legacy. While Garth seems to think that keeping his music off of Spotify (and YouTube, another popular source for young music fans) will force people to buy physical media, the reality is that people just don’t listen to his music. I would venture to say that most young music fans don’t even have a way to play CDs anymore, so there’s no shot they’re buying a box set. And because streaming has been around for so long at this point without his music available, there are 18-20 year olds who have NEVER been able to listen to his music. And not only is there an entire generation who’s never been able to listen to his music, but there’s another generation who, rather than buy physical media, simply don’t listen to the songs they grew up loving. A few months ago, we were out talking to people on Broadway in downtown Nashville and I was SHOCKED at how many young people couldn’t name a single Garth Brooks song. And while I think even most 18 year olds probably know “Friends In Low Places,” the fact that there are people out there who couldn’t even name his biggest hit (which is also the name of his Broadway bar, which was just steps away from us) just shows how much Garth is hurting his own legacy by keeping his music away from potential fans. I grew up a massive fan of Garth’s music. I’ve seen him in concert multiple times, and “That Summer” is one of my go-to karaoke songs. But by keeping his music off of streaming, Garth is almost ensuring that songs like that stop with my generation, the last generation that grew up regularly buying CDs and listening to terrestrial radio. I understand there are legitimate gripes with streaming and the low royalties they pay out to songwriters and artists. And I understand that Garth has an exclusive contract with Amazon Music so it’s not as simple as waking up tomorrow and deciding to end his holdout and put his music on Spotify. But I also understand that if his goal is to force a new generation to listen to his music the same way their parents did in the ’90s, that only ensures that they’ll never hear his music. And look, I know we give Garth a lot of crap here (and I know he’s not a fan of us), but Garth is obviously a legend in country music. I’m saying this as someone who would love to stream songs like “The Red Strokes” or “Unanswered Prayers” or “The Thunder Rolls,” and someone who thinks it would be a shame if yet another generation grew up never listening to those songs because they were simply unavailable. At this point, Garth’s protest may (theoretically) be helping songwriters, but it’s hurting his own legacy.The post Garth Brooks Is Hurting His Own Legacy By Keeping His Music Off Streaming Services Like Spotify first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

In the spirit of the Easter holiday, I wanted to put together a quick list of the best, more recent country Gospel songs for this Sunday in particular. It seems like country artists more than any other genre have so much crossover with the gospel/Christian contemporary genre. Maybe it’s because so many artists like Carrie Underwood, Alan Jackson, Dolly Parton and so many others grew up singing in church and have such a strong connection to the music from their childhood. And of course, now we’re seeing Christian contemporary artists like Brandon Lake venturing into the country music world. He’s collaborated with Jelly Roll, Bailey Zimmerman, Cody Johnson and more recently, Lainey Wilson. In the couple years, we’ve had quite a few artists, like Carrie, Tyler Childers, Brent Cobb and even Willie Nelson put out some great country gospel music as well, and the aforementioned greats do it better than anybody. Gospel songs have had a longtime place in country music, and it’s a tradition that continues to this day with current stars and emerging artists too. While Christmas gets much of the spotlight in terms of music, I’m generally not a fan of most of it, but these country gospel songs… that’s something I can get behind, so I put together a list of some of my favorite’s that can throw on the playlist today, during lunch with the family on Sunday, or really any regular day when you need a little encouragement or reminder of the hope and love that the Easter holiday represents. Willie Nelson and Family – “I Thought About You, Lord” The great Willie Nelson put out a “spirit-driven” album with his family several years ago, and you can’t beat his sons, Lukas and Micah, singing with their dad on his beautiful song “I Thought About You, Lord”: Carrie Underwood – “How Great Thou Art” Like I’ve said many times before, My Savior is still my favorite thing Carrie has ever done, and her live performance of the classic hymn “How Great Thou Art” is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever hard in my life. I truly cannot listen to it without getting chills. If I had to pick a favorite from this list, this would be it without question: Reba McEntire – “Amazing Grace” Reba released her own gospel album, My Chains Are Gone, not too long ago and did a beautiful rendition of “Amazing Grace/ My Chains Are Gone”. It doesn’t get any better than listening to her sing the classic hymn of all classic hymns on a day like today: Dolly Parton – “Power In The Blood” Dolly Parton included this classic hymn on her 36th studio album, Precious Memories, in 1999. Faith has always been at the center of who Dolly is and her career in general, and there’s something about her Smoky Mountain accent that makes this song even more warm and comforting. Brent Cobb – “Softly and Tenderly” One of the most recent gospel songs on this list, Brent Cobb put out a fantastic gospel album called And Now Let’s Turn to Page… in 2022 that’s full of hymns like this, with production that will instantly transport you back to Sunday mornings as a child that many of us remember fondly. Cody Johnson – “By Your Grace” CoJo has made a point to include at least one Gospel song on each of his albums in recent years, but “By Your Grace,” which was written by written by Travis Meadows and Tony Lane for his 2022 Human record, might be my favorite. Alan Jackson – “The Old Rugged Cross” This one was included on Alan Jackson’s thirteenth studio album Precious Memories in 2006, and it’s a beautiful take on a gospel standard: Johnny Cash – “In The Sweet Bye And Bye” Johnny Cash was a strong man of faith, and he had quite a journey to finding salvation, which I’m sure many of us have heard as he spoke about it openly throughout his career. This heartfelt rendition was included on the Unearthed box set that was released in 2003, two months after Cash’s death. Tyler Childers – “The Old Country Church” Tyler put out his gospel album Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? in 2022, which consists of three discs, each containing different remixes of eight gospel music songs. This Hallelujah Version of “The Old Country Church is top-tier. Hank Williams – “I Saw The Light” It wouldn’t be a list about country gospel classics without Hank Williams’ original “I Saw The Light.” He was inspired to write it while returning from a concert by a comment his mom made while they were arriving in Montgomery, Alabama. He recorded the song during his first-ever session for MGM Records, and later released in September 1948. While it wasn’t initially a commercial success, it has become a gospel standard over the years and remains one of Williams’ most beloved songs. The post 10 Faith-Filled Country Songs For Your Easter Sunday first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

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