About gospel Gigs

Gospel Gigs is a community site that brings Southern Gospel groups and their fans together in one central location. Its main purpose is to inform the fans of upcoming Southern Gospel concerts in their area. Gospel Gigs obtains the fans e-mail address and zip code, as well as, the zip codes of upcoming concerts. Once a week, the fans will receive an e-mail letting them know about Southern Gospel concerts in their area.

A quick note: Before I go any further, I must tell you that I'm aware of the other communities already online (My Space, You Tube, etc). But, you must admit, most of the online communities have less than appropriate material littering their site. Also, Gospel Gigs is a specific community, where the members of this community are extremely interested in the groups and their music. A smaller, more intimate community, with a purpose more defined than the other sites of physically bringing the fan and the group together in a concert setting.

Some cities around the country have a Southern Gospel radio station and some of those stations are very good about informing their listeners about upcoming concerts. But, not all areas (i.e. Memphis, TN) have a local Southern Gospel station. Country and rock stations are a dime a dozen, but not Southern Gospel. Therefore, a large number of Southern Gospel fans are not informed about upcoming concerts.

KSUD was the local Southern Gospel radio station years ago and has since changed its format several times. There has not been a Southern Gospel station in the Memphis area for a while. There are still many local quartets but the support of a radio station is gone and the interest in Southern Gospel seemed to be diminishing greatly.

The Inmans, a local Southern Gospel quartet in Memphis, TN has been singing for about 30 years and Keith Inman wanted to do his part in helping to revive the music in Memphis. Keith started promoting concerts at a venue in Bartlett, TN called the BPACC (Bartlett Performing Arts and Conference Center), and worked very hard putting together a mailing list of interested fans. Many well known groups have enjoyed an evening at the BPACC: Signature Sound, Triumphant Quartet, Gold City, Brian Free & Assurance, Legacy Five, Ivan Parker, The Booth Brothers and many more.

The Inmans also took advantage of the opportunity of building an e-mail list through their website, TheInmans.com, and started using that list to promote the BPACC concerts. After a short period of time, that e-mail list grew and has become one of the main tools used in promoting concerts. Now, most of the concerts held at the BPACC are performed before sold out crowds. All without a local Southern Gospel radio station.

By request, The Inmans have used their e-mail list to promote concerts by other groups around the Memphis area. "Although the radio station is gone, we have found a way to communicate with people who want to know about Southern Gospel happenings. Many will e-mail us and ask about other concerts, involving other groups, in the area. We will then put together a schedule of concerts and send that list to our e-mail list. We then get back so many positive e-mails thanking us about letting them know about other concerts."

That confirmed our idea that Gospel Gigs was a much needed service in Southern Gospel music. It has actually been an idea for many years, but the timing just never seemed to be right. The concept was tossed around and briefly worked on several years ago, but it just never seemed to come together. This past summer is when Greg Inman decided to seriously pursue putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together, and create the venue, for the online Southern Gospel community.

How does it work?

It's simple. Southern Gospel groups, from all over the country, are encouraged to post their concert dates on Gospel Gigs. Once a fan signs up, they receive an e-mail, once a week, letting them know about Southern Gospel concerts in their area. Most people I know check their e-mail on a regular basis. Most people I know open e-mails to services that they voluntarily signed up for!! This will increase the number of Southern Gospel fans that will now know about upcoming concerts.

Southern Gospel groups from all over the country are gathering e-mails for their own personal use and should continue to do so. Gospel Gigs is not designed to take away from what groups are currently doing; it is designed to enhance what they are currently doing. Example: A group rarely sings in Memphis, TN, therefore they have not had the opportunity to strengthen their e-mail list in this area of the country. Let's say Gospel Gigs currently has 1200 e-mail addresses of Southern Gospel fans in the Memphis, TN area and those 1200 people would be notified of the groups’ upcoming concert. That would be beneficial in letting more people know about a concert that they may have otherwise not known about.

What if the people of Memphis get their e-mail, see the groups name, but they have never heard about that group before? No problem; they just click on the groups name and it takes them directly to their Gospel Gigs webpage. They can see a picture, listen to a song or two, read the groups bio, etc. If they like what they see and hear, that could give that group another person to sing to that night. One more person to hear God's word!! Now, "Ain't that what it's all about??"

Even though this website is a national community, it can be used to communicate with fans on a local level. If you are part-time (a weekend warrior), and you only sing in a small region of the country, that's fine. Those fans that you introduce to Gospel Gigs will always know when and where you are singing. To get a better picture of how this would benefit the group, if only 5 or 10 groups in your city start using Gospel Gigs to post their concert dates, and each group encourages 5 fans per weekend to sign up for their FREE e-mail notification, that's 25-50 new fans in your area each week. Over the course of a year, that list can grow to between 1200-2500. What group would not like to let that many people know about their concerts coming up this weekend??

There are many features that will be added over time that will make the website even more helpful and interesting. Visit often to see the new groups that have become members and listen to their music and attend their concerts. Our goal is that Gospel Gigs will increase the support and enjoyment of Southern Gospel music around the country.