Tara Isabella Burton

And so they've really been able to capitalize on getting eyeballs, not just ears, but eyeballs on what they're doing.

So they have YouTube monetization.

They have Instagram monetization.

Wow.

And you have this kind of cycle effect where people are discovering this music on Instagram.

Maybe they're going to their worship pastor and saying, did you hear this new song from Bethel?

So they're requesting the song, then the church uses it.

Then maybe someone in the congregation hears it and they say, I love that song.

And they go find it on streaming and they listen to it.

And it creates this feedback loop where this music is getting discovered and used and discovered and used over and over again.

And the churches that are producing the most of it

are really seeing a lot of revenue and a lot of listenership and growth.

Well, I think there are some Christians who look at that and say, revival is coming.

There's a sign of something that's happening.

I'm less convinced of that, but I do think it's an interesting question to ask.

Why might the messages in this music be resonating with people, especially young people at this moment in time?

I think there might be something to that, that there is a search for music that feels like it's looking beyond themselves, beyond the small kind of

internal world and outward, it's worth kind of saying, well, what else is happening around us?

A lot of this music is made by men.

And a lot of it is a little bit country flavor as well.