Artistic Soul Entertainment is gearing up for its annual Beyond Potential Music Gathering, to be held April 16th and 17th in Nashville, TN, during GMA Week.

The two-day conference, the brainchild of Brandon Egerton & Antonio Neal, has quickly become a favorite among aspiring artists and execs in the gospel industry.  From panel discussions, to networking opportunities, and even a new artist showcase, the conference boasts significant benefits to anyone desiring to enter this business.  I encourage you guys to check it out… and not just cuz I’m one of the speakers this year. LOL

Watch the promo video below and visit http://gobeyondpotential.com for more info and to register!

Anyone ever attended a Beyond Potential event?  Anyone planning to attend this year?  Talk to me!

If you’ve ever attended the Stellar Awards weekend or GMA week, you’ve probably noticed (and perhaps attended) the highly popular performance event, Urban Soul Cafe.

Quickly becoming one of the largest and most successful grassroots performance opps in the industry, the event features performances from major and indie artists at reasonable prices in an intimate setting.

This year, Urban Soul Cafe presents its Stellar Awards weekend event, “Access Granted,” and it promises to be just as good as past events, with performances expected from J Moss, Melinda Watts, 21:03, Adrianne Archie and many more urban gospel artists.

There will be two events– one on Thursday, January 14th and one following the Stellars taping on Saturday, January 16th– and will be hosted by DeWayne Woods, Canton Jones, Lexi and Sheilah Belle.

Click here to view the full flyers for the event and to purchase tickets!

The Gospel Music Association’s wildly successful GMA Week has been set for April 18th through 21st in Nashville, TN.  The week will culminate, as always, with the 41st Annual Dove Awards.

Anybody planning to attend?  I’m soooooo gonna try to be there, especially if the quality of the awards show is ANYWHERE close to where it was this year… just sheer excellence.

In related news, the GMA held a mega fundraiser on Monday night here in Nashville, dubbed the “Concert Of The Decade,” in an attempt to save the non-profit organization from recent financial woes.  Tickets to attend were $1,000 apiece (yes… three zeros) and the benefit featured performances by Kirk Franklin, Natalie Grant, Amy Grant, Casting Crowns, Michael W. Smith and many more.  Did anyone watch it online… or attend in person???

The event is said to have sold 350 tix for a total of $350,000, but the venue’s capacity was about 800 seats… Hopefully, this will be a helpful start.  The GMA is an asset to the Christian music community.

Folks, check out I’mAGospelSinger.com when you get a minute.

Dubbed “a community for gospel artists to discover, share and inspire,” it’s a cool social networking site on which artists (new, established, major and indie), DJs and producers can connect and do the doggone thing!  Members can upload tracks, videos, photos, and news about events… it’s kinda great.

The site is the brainchild of Artistic Soul Entertainment, the same group that has presented buzz-worthy events like the Beyond Potential Urban Music Gathering during GMA Week and the upcoming Beyond Potential Summer Showcase.

Check it out at http://www.imagospelsinger.com/ and lemme know what you think.

Following its MUCH-raved about Beyond Potential Urban Music Gathering during GMA Week, Artistic Soul Entertainment is gearing up for its Beyond Potential Summer Showcase.

Indie artists can sign up to be featured in the showcase and perform before a variety of distribution companies and booking agents.  Major opportunities, folks.  See the flyer below…

If you can’t make this one, I hear there’s more where that came from!  Visit ArtisticSoulEntertainment.com for more details.

Anyone planning on doin’ it???

Folks, a GREAT new artist that you need to check out– Trent Cory.  I think he’s gonna do very well in the industry.  He’s got a great voice, great songs, and an apparent heart for praise and worship.  We like!

His debut album, Freedom IS, features production by Aaron Lindsey and he’s already received ringing endorsements from Israel Houghton, Martha Munizzi and other notable folks in the industry.

And FYI:  If you’re gonna be in Nashville for GMA Week, he’ll be performing at the Beyond Potential conference TONIGHT (http://www.gobeyondpotential.com) and at the Urban Soul Cafe on Wednesday night (http://www.myspace.com/urbansoulcafe).

In the meantime, listen to his single, “We Praise Your Name”:

Also, make sure you check him out at his official website (http://www.trentcory.com) and on his MySpace page (www.myspace.com/trentcory).

What do you guys think?  You feelin’ it???

The urban gospel scene is growing by leaps and bounds and, even if you ain’t necessarily feeling it, it is undeniable that the people involved in it are gifted and are having an impact on the audiences for which God intended ‘em.  So, I’m supporting.  And I’m enjoying!

Right now, I’m enjoying Terrell King…

This German-born, now Atlanta-based new artist is getting a lot of attention from consumers and industry execs.  He’s even tapped to be featured with Marvin Sapp at a GMA Week mixer in Nashville, TN in a coupla weeks. [Editor’s Note: Marvin Sapp won’t be at the mixer anymore– on board, though, are several artists, including Tonex, Rizen and Karima Kibble, and industry execs like Roger Holmes and Monica Coates.)

He’s a songwriter, vocal producer and vocalist… even more, he’s got a passion to serve God and to share the message of Jesus Christ with his generation.

His digital EP, Almost Clear, was released on December 2nd and, in just a few short months, he’s already gotten 30,000 single streams from it.  Expect a full album from him THIS summer, but expect to hear about him A LOT sooner. He’s got a good voice, a good look, a good fanbase already… I think he’ll do well.

Listen to the audio on this clip and lemme know what y’all think:

And make sure you visit his MySpace page for more streaming audio from his EP: www.myspace.com/officialterrellkingmusic

Thoughts???

Yooooo… a while back, I published a blog post and told you to check out Ashmont Hill.  And, again, I urge you to do so!

Congrats to the group on receiving THREE nominations in the first round of the Dove Awards nominations process:

1.  Inspirational Recorded Song of the Year (”Song of Glory”)
2.  Contemporary Gospel Recorded Song of theYear (”Restore Us Again”)
3.  Praise & Worship Album of the Year (Ashmont Hill)

If any of y’all are voting members at the GMA’s, please check them out and vote for them… they’re about Kingdom business and they put out a great debut album.

And for those of y’all who aren’t voting members… just make sure you own the album!

The Gospel Music Association (GMA) is already gearing up for its annual GMA Music Week 2009 in Nashville, TN.  The conferences, now in their 30th year, will be held from April 18th to 22nd, with the Dove Awards, in their 40th year, taking place on the 23rd at the Grand Ole Opry House (tickets go on sale in January).

Registration is available at www.gospelmusic.org/events/summaryDetail.aspx?aid=9&pid=33, and GMA members can take advantage of low rates by registering before December 10th.  As the event approaches, more updates will be available at www.gospelmusic.org.  And I may say a lil’ something here, too.