The End of the World

Well, not really but you might think so from reading how only old folks go to SG concerts. The cry is "who is going to listen when they all pass on to Glory?"

On the surface this seems like an honest and good question. However, if you explore it deeper, you might begin to see the holes.

First, yes the SG audience is an "older" audience. I have seen many young people in these audiences as well, though. Not only in the audience but on the stage also.

Second, the truth is the United States population as a whole is growing older. There are more people in the "senior" age group than ever before. This could be seen as a sign for growth within SG.

Typically the older people get, the more conservative they get. They also begin to look more to the spiritual side of life. This too leads me to believe that having an "older" audience is not such a bad thing or a surprise.

Now, would we like to attract some of the younger crowd to our concerts? Of course! This would benefit the genre as well as the younger people. We should do things that make SG more accessible to these people WITHOUT alienating the fans we have now, though. That might be the real trick.

My conclusion is that there is definitely room for improvement and growth within the SG industry, but that there is no need to have a knee-jerk reaction and say everything is doom and gloom. I think SG is strong today and getting stronger. I think our audiences are always going to be "heavy" on the older crowd, but that we will continue to attract some younger people too.

How do you see it?