Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Phil Wickham

All right, so I've talked about Phil Wickham before. He is one of my favorite artists and is simply incredible. Great songwriter. Great singer. Great everything. Right now, he has a deal on his website where you can download his new record 2 months before it's out in stores, plus you get an acoustic version of his record now, too. Plus you get the CD in the mail on release date and a t-shirt. All for $25. I just spent money on it. You should, too. Great, great record.

www.philwickham.com

17 comments:

risalea said...

Love me a deal. Thanks, Chris.

EmilyBoo said...

I've been debating taking Phil up on this offer for several days. I REALLY want to, but alas, I don't really have the money for it right now, no matter how great a deal it is! But... my birthday is in a couple weeks, so I will drop the hint to my hubby for sure. I wonder how long this offer is available, I don't think it says.

Chris, do you love "Heaven & Earth" as much as "Cannons"?

Hehehe, my word verification is "butch".

ChrisSligh said...

"Heaven and Earth" on 1 listen is better than "Cannons"

Chris

EmilyBoo said...

WOW. After only one listen? It can only get better, right? And I love "Cannons" so much, so this promises to be a really great album!

Hischild said...

I just found out yesterday that he will be in concert at the church down the street on Oct 26th! Only $15! It will be my 3rd Phil Wickham concert! YES!!!!
THANKS for the tip of the special deal Chris. I'm in same boat w/Emily. I'll try to find the money somewhere, however, I'm also trying to find the money for Ingrid Michaelson concert AND Phil's now. (sigh) So much music, so little income. Story of my life.

In heaven, I think all the music is FREE! :o)

Hischild said...

Oh, I get to see David Crowder in a few weeks for free!!! Volunteering as an usher. Praying Extreme Faith needs help for Phil's too.

Anonymous said...

chris when are you signing with a major label?

Anonymous said...

Anon - a question forever of the ages.

ChrisSligh said...

Answer in the blog above this one...

Chris

Jenna B said...

Thank you! Ordered mine last night :)

KFriend said...

This would be a great idea for YOUR next album too Chris!!

madison said...

that was nice of you to write all this advice out, but i dont think you had to put down those idols like you did. most of the idols you were slamming on are doing very well, and to say your within the top 5 of the talent of seasons 6 and 7...i'm not quite sure about that. i haven't heard of you since your season, while i have heard quite a lot about david archuleta, david cook, jordin sparks, jason castro, syesha mercado, and brooke white.

ChrisSligh said...

Madison,

I said this below in the comments, I'm assuming you didn't read...

So, I'll say it again.

First off, I didn't slam or backhand compliment anyone. I simply said exactly where they were in life. The only thing that I wish I hadn't said was that Blake didn't have an actual career...I was trying to say that in my opinion he should've been huge, but wasn't. But it didn't come across like that.

Secondly, I'm not patting myself on the back or self-aggrandizing when I say that I am in the top 5 most successful from those 2 seasons. It's objectively true. Others may be more famous (which is what you refer to), but my entire article is pointing out that success isn't being famous. Let me say EXACTLY how I am top 5 most successful (not famous)

1) Record sales - this is the most important of the bunch. David Cook, David Archuletta, Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis have sold more records than me. brooke White has not. Michael Johns has not. Jason Castro has not. Now...that being said, chances Jason and Brooke will pass me at some point, but to this point I am #5 in record sales.

2) Touring - Last year I did 137 shows. 110 of them were headlining dates. On headlining dates, I averaged close to 500 a night. Biggest crowd I played for as a headliner was 1600. As a headliner, only David Cook has done bigger dates consistently, but to be fair that's not really fair since Archie and Jordin have been opening for HUGE acts. So this one is less definable. However, as a new artist to average 500/night in any genre is strong. And it's only getting better for me, as I have built a touring base from the bottom up. To put that in perspective: last year Blake did a headlining tour and from reports I saw average less than 200/night. You can say that Blake is a bigger artist than I and I would agree. But he is not a bigger headlining touring act at this point.

3) Writing - David Cook and Blake Lewis over the 2 seasons are the only ones who could be considered in the same league as me (not from a skill standpoint but from a simple monetary standpoint). Not only did I write every song on my record, but of course I had the Flatt's single.

4) Chart success - I had a top 5 and another top 15 single on Billboard. Granted, that success is in the CCM market BUT it is success. There are artists in smaller genres than mine who sell fewer records than me that are considered highly successful (i.e., jazz artists, dance artists, etc). It is relative to the market. So, though my top 5 isn't as big as, say, David Cook's top 5, it is as big as, say, a top 25 AC song (which I think is what Blake's 1st single went to).

Now, with all of that explained out, I can also freely admit this: it is probable that Idols like Brooke and Jason will pass me in every category. In fact, I hope they do. My hope for other Idols is to be successful. I have seen success..modest? Sure. But I'm making more money than I ever have. It is probable that I will have a couple more big country singles this year, plus a couple of pop things in the works. An artist I've produced and developed is in the midst of being signed to a major label and I will be producing his debut. I'm starting to get more offers around town to produce. My overall success very well may be behind the scenes...but that was my point in my whole article. You don't have to be a superstar to make a GREAT living doing what you love!

hope that all makes sense...

Thanks for stopping by...you should stick around.

Chris

ChrisSligh said...

Oh yeah, under the Writing section above, I forgot (again) to include Jared Cotter...I was focusing on the top 10...but that would obviously put him in contention for success amongst both seasons.

Chris

risalea said...

I'm about to be forced to dive back into the archives of this blog and pull out my "12 Step" post. Love you dearly, Chris Sligh, but if you don't stop re-explaining yourself, I'm gonna' have to slap you silly.

Madison, do stick around...we're nice folks, as is Chris. Check out his concert tour schedule at www.chrissligh.com, try to make it to a show, and be sure and introduce yourself to him afterwards. He will remember you and he's very kind to his blogger fans who meet him out on tour.

Anonymous said...

The thing is, the Idols from your season have underperformed. Even Jordin is struggling now with rather dismal sales of her second CD, despite having a solid hit with "Battlefield." She should be over 500K by now based on historic trends.

Melinda should have done better. I've often wondered how things would have shaken out for her had she come in second, which I feel she should have. It was a classic case of popularity overriding sensibility. And it wasn't that she didn't have the opportunity. Shoot, she was signed to a label, but what happened. She deserved better, that's for sure.

I don't think your comments were off the mark in the slightest. I know that there are people from this season with high hopes, but who will soon face the reality you tried to give them. Better warned, I suppose, but I doubt any one of them really believe it.

three girls and a guy said...

Back to the post :-), glad you're putting a good word out for Phil, got to talk with him the other day after seeing him live for the 4th time and he's just a great songwriter, amazing on the guitar, unique voice and a great worship leader. He's creative in his ways of reaching fans too, such as his free download called Singalong which was a live album of a lot of his songs, some not even on his studio recorded CD releases and now this package deal. I love to see a good creative artist like Chris supporting another great artist like Phil; passing good music along is one of my favorite things to do and it's nice to see Chris likes to do that as well outside his own music. :-)