Gospel singer Kirk Franklin is not optimistic about the future of gospel music. He worries that God-themed music would fade away the same way disco did.
Franklin shared his thoughts during a guest appearance at Erica Campbell's syndicated radio show "Get Up! Mornings with Erica Campbell" late last year.
"It's not only a decline of the music but a decline of Jesus in the culture. Kids are not going to church and they're not listening to the music anymore," Franklin said. "So if music dies... See, my fear is, I don't want gospel music to die like disco and rock 'n' roll. Nowhere in the Bible is God commanding us to do records."
Franklin is fortunate in the fact that he won several awards last year, including a Grammy, for his 12th studio album "Losing My Religion." Even though he is not affected by the downward trend of Christian music, Franklin said he is hurting for other people in the industry.
"I think one of the low points for me is to see a genre that I love so much struggle so hard. And I know that you've got to be careful because you don't want people to feel like you're whining and complaining," he said. "But it is very real that when something gets hit hard that the thing at the bottom sometimes suffers the worst. Gospel music has really taken a hit as far as the industry."
Personally, Franklin said he does not care much about album sales because he is more concerned about the longevity of gospel music.
"We're not trying to compare ourselves to the world, we're just asking you to put yourself in that position. It's really painful to see," he said. "It hurts me when I know my brothers and sisters [in the Christian music industry] are having such a hard time."
