Sweet harmonies translate to sales: hundreds of vendors gather to market books, CD's and other items to a captive audience of 15,000 at the world's largest gathering of gospel music participants

Black Issues Book Review, July-August, 2003 by Elizabeth Atkins

Gospel lovers are planning a pilgrimage to Florida this summer, to transform the steamy seaside town of Tampa into a music mecca and marketplace like none other in the world.

In August, some 15,000 people will be there for the Gospel Music Workshop of America (GMWA). Organizers hail it as a sort of one-stop-shopping mall for all things relating to the million-dollar gospel music industry, says Al Hobbs, executive vice chair of the GMWA board of directors.

"When war brings economic downturns," he says, "there seems to be a move in the air to really maximize all of the promotional and marketing opportunities for large companies, medium companies and small vendors alike. And right now, gospel music soothes the American condition like nothing else."

That's why more than 300 companies are renting 10-foot-square vendor's booths at the conference marketplace in the Tampa Convention Center, says Kirk Walker, the GMWA exhibit manager.

Vendors are hoping the ka-ching! of their cash registers will punctuate the joy and jubilance of round-the-clock music that will electrify the summer sizzle as songwriters, musicians, singers, record industry heavyweights, clergy and gospel media join music lovers, as well as managers and promoters for the largest gospel music conference in the world. "Our Marketplace is very popular," says Walker. "We've got something for everybody."

From August 9 through 15, more than 300 vendors are expected to create a weeklong sales extravaganza for gospel gear, including books, CDs, electric organs, ethnic clothing, musical instruments and choir robes.

"Our bookstore is definitely a hotspot," says Walker. "Last year at our convention in Detroit, we had a book signing with the authors of The New National Baptist Hymnal, 21st Century Edition. Right now, we're still planning whether we'll have author book signings in Tampa."

Along with that, the GMWA bookstore sells a soul-stirring assortment of Christian books, Bibles, sheet music and hymnals, Walker says. It also provides textbooks that are required for the 115 classes and workshops offered throughout the week on subjects as diverse as how to play the tambourine and gospel drums, to studying the life of Christ, the business of gospel music, and from copyright laws to marketing and promoting records and artists.

Walker says no bookstore sales figures are available for last year's conference. He says each vendor keeps track of his or her own sales and that no grand total is collected. "The word gets out that you can find good bargains," Walker says. "And when folks make this their vacation, they like to pick up inspirational reading materials at our bookstore."

The Christian Music Trade Association reports that gospel music sold 49.6 million units in both 2001 and 2002, generating $920 million in annual sales. In fact, the Gospel Music Workshop of America says about 75 percent of the recordings on Billboard magazine's gospel charts are written, arranged, produced and/or performed by GMWA members.

This sort of showcasing of gospel music talent was the goal of the late Rev. James Cleveland when he founded the organization in Detroit back in 1967. Now the GMWA is the largest artistic organization of its kind in the world with 75,000 members in more than 185 chapters in the United States, United Kingdom, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia.

As for this year's conference, Hobbs says a good sign that it will be a huge success is the fact that conference-goers reserved most of Tampa's hotel rooms during a two-week registration period in March.

"You'll hear gospel music over here, music over there, music everywhere!" Hobbs says. "The Gospel Music Workshop of America is the must-networking spot in the country today for gospel music."

It's especially not to be missed for those who dream of becoming the next gospel superstar like Kirk Franklin or Vicki Winans. Participants can even showcase their best rendition of "Amazing Grace" live, in front of top record company recruiters.

"This event is a great outlet for creative talent," says five-time Grammy award-winning gospel singer Carvin Winans, co-pastor of Perfecting Church in Detroit. "Whether you're established or upcoming, this conference is a good place to hear and be heard."

The Reverend Charles Ellis of Detroit's Greater Grace Temple, who celebrated the opening communion at last year's conference in Detroit, says the grassroots atmosphere puts superstars and common folk on level ground where everyone wants to learn and share.

"The event is always a tremendous success, because it covers everything from stem to stern," says Ellis. "You can rub elbows with singers you normally see on stage.

"Name any of the stars in gospel music," he points out, "and they're walking the hallways and attending workshops, not with their labels on but as common individuals participating at ground level."

The conference grows every year, drawing fans from across the U. S. and the globe, but Hobbs says money is becoming a bigger issue. "We have an assortment of corporate sponsors that cover about 15 percent of our costs," he says. "But we don't have the mega-corporate underwriting that we need.