Artists haven’t been shy throwing their support for their favorite candidate. Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, and Taylor Swift are urging fans to back presidential candidate Joe Biden whereas as Kanye West, 50 cent, Lil Wayne, Lil Pump, and Ice Cube have shown their support for President Donald J. Trump.

Ironically, the CCM artists (Contemporary Christian Music) have been largely silent. Many were vocal in the Black Lives Matter movement including Chris Tomlin, for King & Country, Casting Crowns, Matt Maher, Elevation Worship and Kari Jobe. But the presidential elections? They’re silent as a lamb. There are some exceptions of course. Popular christian artist Danny Gokey has engaged in the conversation and talks regularly about issues that are important to him.
The rock star pastors are sitting on the sidelines as well. Hillsong’s motivational and social activist preacher Carl Lentz has disappeared from the scene. Others celebrity pastors such as Louie Giglio and Judah Smith are also sitting out of the political fray.
But why are the predominant CCM artists choosing to remain silent in this culturally charged moment? That’s what the audience is asking. Their audience are regular churchgoers. They listen to K- Love, the biggest Christian radio network and they attend live events. The seats are filled primarily by word of mouth among churches. How politics will impact the Christian Music Industry is yet to be seen.
But after coming out and supporting racial justice has left the audience confused as to why their favorite CCM artist are wordless on the presidential race. But sometimes silence isn’t empty, but full of answers.

Countless Californians and New Yorkers are leaving the state as the pandemic and fear rages . Nearly a million left California because of high taxes. Many are heading to the midwest or the southern states where jobs are plentiful and taxes are lower. Rock legend Gene Simmons is dumping his $22 million California Benedict Canyon estate.

Simmons bought the house from Fleedwood Mac and The Eagles manager Irving Azoff. Supposably, The Eagles were put together on the property.
“I’m finally not putting up with [paying] 60% to 70% of my gross to the government,” says Simmons. “I am going to a much more welcoming state where there is no income tax, no local and state taxes. Federal taxes are enough.”
“California and Beverly Hills have been treating folks that create jobs badly and the tax rates are unacceptable,” Simmons told the Journal. “I work hard and pay my taxes, and I don’t want to cry the Beverly Hills blues but enough is enough.”

Kanye is a big thinker. He became the biggest hip hop artist of all time. Now, he is thinking about the artist contract he signed with Universal. He isn’t very happy and wanted to negotiate a new contract. In fact, just a month ago, he posted photos of his contract on Twitter. But now Kanye has a different idea.

Kanye wants his masters. But instead of demanding that Universal Music Group returns his masters, he wants to buy Universal Music Group.

“I was thinking about buying my masters but I realized that was too small of a thought. I’m going to buy Universal” says Kanye.

“Universal is only a $33bn organization. I’m one of the greatest product producers that ever existed. And I’m a child; I’m 43 years old. I was $53m in debt four years ago. Now it’s proven that I’m the new Michael Jordan of products.”
Could West actually buy the company? Sure he could. West has a personal net worth of $5bn and could easily raise the money to buy Universal Music Group.

Universal Music Group isn’t led by an iconic figurehead. West notes, “They have another Steve Jobs, Howard Hughes, Henry Ford, Disney, Elon kind of character within their midst [referring to himself], but they are so concerned with the control of the idea of artists.
“They are using me as this artist who has attracted other artists. Also, I used them. I got famous. I made some money, I got to tour.
“I became this superstar, so we used each other. Now there’s just an adjustment that needs to be made in the relationship. I can make and I will make products that will make more money than Universal is worth.” You can watch the interview here.

Willow Robinson dropped the new EP Fall. Check out Weight of the World. He released 4 EP’s, ‘Winter’, ‘Sprin, and ‘Summer’, and now ‘Fall’. This wraps up his entire new album Seasons, Pretty cool..right?
It’s tough to pin down Robinson musically. After a few listens you’ll hear elements of rock, pop, chill, alternative, and psychedelic. That’s what I get out of it. Willow Robinson was just BBC Radio’s Artist of the Week and he has an upcoming sync in the series “American Gods.” Give it a stream.

Julia Michaels released a new track “Lie Like This” that I really like. The 26 year old changed the sound of pop music. Having written with Selena Gomez, Bieber, and Dua Lipa, Michaels is more well known among the songwriting circle than she is with the public, even having some pretty big hits herself. That’s what I like about Michaels, she’s introspective and isn’t posting bra & panty photos on instagram. She isn’t about clicks and likes, it’s about the song. While that may not work for many artists, it works for her, and that’s why I listen to her work.