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The majority of artists working and performing within the Christian music industry are isolated from the mainstream public, to Christian radio, magazines and record stores. Some artists however are able to "cross over" to achieve success both within the Christian music industry and the larger, "mainstream" music industry.

Crossing over has become a little easier in recent years as, through ownership changes, the largest Christian record labels have become subsidiaries of the "mainstream" labels (who are themselves owned by huge media conglomerates like Viacom and Time Warner), promoting a product to a niche market.

The Christian music industry's roots are found in the late 1960s and early 1970s Jesus Movement and its Jesus Music artists.

The Christian music industry is made up of:

• singers
• songwriters
• musicians
• Musicians' Union s
• composerA composer is a person who writes music. The term refers particularly to someone who writes music in some type of musical notation, thus allowing others to perform the music. This distinguishes the composer from a musician who improvises. However, a persos
• publisherA publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. Major publishing companies include AOL Time Warner, including subsidiaries Warner Books and Little, Brown ASCII Baen Books Farrar, Straus and Giroux Hachette Filipacchi Media Harleqs
• Writers' rights organizations like ASCAP and BMIBroadcast Music Incorporated BMI is a collecting society that protects composers' intellectual property in the communications business, especially radio. It was founded by the broadcasters as a rival to ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors, a
• record producerIn the music industry, record producer designates a person responsible for completing a master recording so that it is fit for release. In earlier days, record producers bore the title of A&R men for Artists and Repertory which gives a clearer picture ofs
• record companies
• print music companies who create printed music and accompaniment recordings of contemporary Christian music, praise songA praise song is a song of praise to God in the traditions of certain Christian churches. Although the more commonly used term hymn is synonymous with praise song within certain modern Christian musical traditions, especially in many Baptist churches, a ds and traditional hymnSee also the hymn-project a program to decrypt iTunes music files. A hymn is a song specifically written as a song of praise, adoration or prayer, typically addressed to God. A writer of hymns is known as a hymnist or hymnodist and the process of singings
• record label
• record distributor s
• band manager s
• concert promoter s
• bookers
• roadies
• and so on...

The Christian music industry also has its own Performing Rights Organization ( PRO) specifically designed for royalty payments related to the use of Christian songs in church worship services: Christian Copyright Licensing International or CCLI - http://www.ccli.com.

In the 21st Century, the advent of file sharing technologies may change the balance between record companies, song writers, and performing artists.

Christian music industry organizations:

• Gospel Music Association