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NewswireTODAY - /newswire/ -
Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 2008/09/03 - The Gospel Music Association Canada (GMAC) is pleased to announce that the Covenant Awards will once again be held in Calgary, Alberta. Over the last 30 years we have seen many changes in the Gospel music industry.
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Once synonymous with Southern Gospel, GMAC has changed in Canada. Over the years talent such as Bruce Cockburn, Paul Brandt, Reliant K, and Thousand Foot Krutch has grown from Worship leaders and bands in small local churches into Internationally acclaimed artists selling millions of albums worldwide. The Van’s Warped Tour that has just rocked through Calgary featured Christian Rock artist’s Reliant K, and Anberlin. Last year’s Covenant Awards were hosted by Carolyn Arends and stand up comedian Leland Klassen with special appearances by Paul Brandt, Brian Doerksen, Starfield, Carolyn Arends, Steve Bell, High Valley, His Season, The Kry, Sebastian Demrey, Manafest, Drew Brown, Carried Away, Masters Four and Hokus Pick. Hokus Pick was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award and performed their classic hit I’m So Happy.
The 30th Annual Covenant Awards is sure to be most spectacular ever, as the talent in Canada is flourishing. We do not know yet who will be appearing at the awards as the nominees won’t be announced until September 16th, 2008, but we do know that this has been a banner year for all of our artists.
Date: October 24, 2008 - Venue: First Alliance Church, Calgary, Alberta, Canada - Seating: 1700
Music Statistics:
• Country albums in 2007 suffered a 16.3 percent dip in sales from those of a year before, falling from almost 75 million copies to just under 63 million.
• For every 10 Country albums sold, 8 Christian/Gospel albums fly off the shelf.
• Christian/Gospel recorded music sales are more than half a billion annually!
• Over 53 million units of Christian/Gospel CDs, cassettes, digital albums, and digital tracks were sold in 2007.
• Christian/Gospel album sales represented 6.6% of all album sales in 2007, a total higher than Latin (6.4%), Soundtracks (4.9%), Classical (3.3%), Jazz (2.8%), and New Age (0.6%).
• Christian/Gospel digital album sales were up over 66% in 2007, while digital tracks were up over 36%.
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david.jones[.]aifcanada.com 
