AUTHENTIC MEDIA's Malcolm Down talks to Tony Cummings about his company's European representation of Provident Distribution

Malcolm: Ironically it's many of the same names I used to sell when I was a rep, eg, Michael W Smith, Third Day, Casting Crowns, Leeland, Caedmon's Call, Rebecca St James, but there are many new artists too who are beginning to make an impact such as Phil Wickham, One Sonic Society, Red, Tenth Avenue North and their very latest young artist Moriah Peters. Don't forget the significance too of their movie catalogue. Fireproof has been a huge seller all across Europe and Courageous is all set to double those numbers. It recently went to number one in the USA DVD chart and releases here on 27th February.

Tony: It has been a difficult couple of years for Christian retail and in the music arena only worship orientated music seems to be selling well. Do you have any thoughts and feelings on this?

Malcolm: There is no doubt that in the UK worship albums still dominate but this is far from the case in Europe where some of the rock bands such as Skillet, Red, Relient K, The Afters and Fireflight are still selling in good numbers. I think the main issue is the cost involved in getting the bands here to tour. In the old days bands used to come across for Greenbelt and then go on to Flevo in Holland but in recent years, Greenbelt does not seem to have had many of those more contemporary USA artists so their exposure to the UK market has been very limited. We also suffer from having very few Christian radio stations whereas in the US there are over 1000, many specialising in Christian contemporary and rock music. There are just very few places where people can hear the artists although platforms such as Spotify do make accessing the music much easier once people have heard of the bands.

Tony: What are the new or forthcoming music releases of which retail needs to be aware?

Malcolm: As I mentioned, look out for the new debut release from Moriah Peters called 'I Choose Jesus', for gospel fans a new Fred Hammond album entitled 'God Love And Romance' and on the DVD front later in the year, a new movie called October Baby.

Tony: Can you ever envisage a day when Authentic returns to the position it once held as Britain's largest provider of Christian music?

Malcolm: I guess it's always a possibility but it's not something we think about or discuss. We just want to offer the very best service with what we have and see where that takes us.