For many, Apple’s purchase of Beats Electronics was the event that convinced them streaming wasn’t going away, but was in fact paving the future for music distribution. Until then, many pundits and consumers still regarded streaming the way generations prior viewed Betamax and MiniDisc.
It wasn’t until the infamously market-savvy tech giant bought Beats with a view to securing an established streaming platform with an iconic brand and figurehead attached that the non-believers were finally converted. Now, with streaming cemented as the undeniable future of music, the question remains what that future will look like.
The answer may have just been offered by one of the market’s most unlikely sources: Christian music. While many readers will be familiar with the juggernaut status of Christian and gospel music — 1.66 billion albums, singles, music videos, and digital tracks were sold in 2012 alone — it’s a market largely untapped by the streaming world.
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“It’s really hard to find Christian content [on streaming services],” Stephen Relph, co-founder and chief executive of The Overflow, a Toronto-based music subscription service that’s targeting Christian consumers by offering a catalog and experience unavailable by larger competitors like Spotify and Pandora, tells Billboard.
The Overflow’s decision to take on a niche market could just be the key to their success. It’s a classic case of less is more. While your standard subscription service offers over 25 million tracks, The Overflow carries just 383,000, giving listeners a carefully curated option that’s catered to their tastes.
Indeed, despite a significant user base, Forgotify estimate that 20 percent of all the songs available on Spotify, one of the world’s most popular and talked-about streaming services, have never been played even once. That’s 4 million songs that have never received attention from consumers.
Another important difference is The Overflow’s subscription charge of $4.99 per month, half of the $9.99-per-month typical of other services. The Overflow also allows streaming on multiple devices as well as offline caching on mobile devices. Effectively, customers pay less to get what they really want.
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Interestingly enough, labels are more than willing to offer their catalogs on The Overflow, despite the lower charges. This speaks to the limitation of large-catalog services, where a smaller label’s artists can often be lost in the ether of a song library that features millions of other artists, some of whom can pay for advertising.
“There’s a general recognition that we want to highlight a part of the catalog that doesn’t get much recognition. We can bring greater value,” says Relph. Most promising for Relph is that there’s definitely a market for something like The Overflow, with over half the Christian consumer base active in streaming.
“Over half of the Christian/Gospel consumer base is active in the streaming space. And, historically, about 20 percent of the U.S. Christian/Gospel consumer base listens exclusively Christian/Gospel, and does not actively engage with other genres,” says Greg Bays, executive vice president at Capital Christian Distribution.
However, the most exciting aspect of The Overflow is what it could mean for fans of other lesser-exposed genres such as metal, classical, and country music. “I feel like there are a lot of underserved music fans out there. There are certain lifestyles that require more depth of understanding about who people are,” says Vickie Nauman of Cross Border Works.
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“There’s country, Christian, metal, well-curated indie, classical, these are all segments of the music marketplace that I don’t think will ever get their needs met by services that are firehoses of music,” she adds. Just ask yourself: would you pay less than you do for Spotify and just get the tunes that you want to hear?
Best of all, despite its niche consumer base, The Overflow looks and feels just like other services. It offers users curated content and guides them through genres and artists. The app is well-designed and available for iOS users, with a web version set to be released at a later date.
But Relph believes the company goes even further to serve their users. “That’s where we go deeper with the devotion work with artists,” he says. “We’ve done 37 Bible-reading plans with artists like Casting Crowns, Hillsong United, Michael W. Smith and others. There’s a need to go beyond the music to a message. That ties into the heart of what we’re trying to do.”
“Much like Christian radio, The Overflow is focused on super-serving that consumer base, and their depth of editorial content and curation should provide a robust experience for that audience,” says Bays. Interested users can sign up right now — no credit card required — for a free one-week trial.
