From "Salt, Light, Conformity, and the iPod"

The following is from a weekly email I receive from Christianity Today, which is a music review email from their music department. It helps me stay aware of all the new music that is coming out, and gives me a chance to listen to some different styles that I might not normally spend a lot of time searching out. The editor brought up a very interesting point that I wanted to share with you... (Click HERE for the article in its original context)

Many of you with iPods and MP3 libraries may have noticed a little detail concerning MP3s and file management that, in my mind at least, creates a small, but interesting, dilemma. It all has to do with how music gets categorized.

For those unfamiliar with the process, it's common to rip/copy CDs to your computer and then transfer those music files to your MP3 player. There's a handy feature with the file management software that searches for album data on the Internet, automatically labeling your files with things like artist name, album title, year of release, and genre. Similarly, when you download music from sites like iTunes, the files are already labeled with that same information.

Right, now here's the dilemma. Like many of you, I listen to Christian music, as well as secular music. When you get the track information for secular artists, they're classified as pop, rock, hip-hop, classical … whatever the genre. All Christian music, however, is labeled as "Gospel & Religious." Well, to me, "Gospel & Religious" doesn't cut it. It defines the lyrical content; it doesn't define the music. What good is it to organize by genre if you can't discern the style? That's why whenever I upload music to my MP3 library, I change the genre to reflect the style, not the songwriting. Bebo Norman exists alongside Billy Joel on my iPod, as do Caedmon's Call and Coldplay.

Now I know that some of you only listen to Christian music, but in a way, that only magnifies the issue. Unless you've changed the genre yourself, every artist and song on your iPod is categorized as "Gospel & Religious." Pop, rock, hip-hop, gospel, folk, R&B, country—it's all classified the same. Doesn't make much sense, right?

Besides, consider how music is categorized at a Christian bookstore. Usually, it's by pop, rock, praise & worship, and such. It's when you go out "into the world" to Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and other mainstream retail stores, that all Christian music is lumped together into one category, separate from music that might otherwise sound similar.

Well, at least we have a choice with our individual music collections and MP3 libraries. I'm sure many of you hold firmly to the belief that Christian music shouldn't mix with secular music: "Be ye separate … Do not conform to the ways of this world … How can people know if it's Christian music unless you define it as such?"

For me, however, it's a practical reality of life to mix the two—and that's not an endorsement of secular music with bad content, mind you. I simply consider it a matter of "salt and light" when defining artists by their music, not their lyrical content. After all, the lyrical content speaks for itself by virtue of Matthew 5:16, and it's worth sprinkling the salt a little more broadly to get the messages and ideas across...

...Either way, I'm not trying to say there's one better way to organize music over another. But what I do find interesting is that a little thing like organizing our personal music can say so much about how we view art and the role of Christian music in the world around us.

It's amazing how something so small and simple reflects back to the way we view our Christianity. Is it something that we hold back from the rest of the world because we are afraid that the world will mess it up?

Interesting food for thought...