LDS choir CD creating waves on Web

Published: Saturday, Dec. 22, 2007 12:05 a.m. MST
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With Mitt Romney's presidential campaign putting the LDS Church and its doctrines under the media microscope in unprecedented ways, one of the faith's signature organizations — the Mormon Tabernacle Choir — is generating publicity of a different sort.

The choir's latest Christmas album, "Spirit of the Season," recently was nominated for two Grammy awards and has topped Billboard's classical music chart for several weeks in a row, bringing added exposure for the choir — and by extension, leaders say, the church — both within the United States and internationally.

The CD helped facilitate one of the choir's latest moves to use technology as a way to gain broader exposure for the church, according to choir general manager Scott Barrick. After a discussion with a high-traffic interfaith Web site, beliefnet.com, in New York last fall, selected clips from the choir's 2006 Christmas concert featuring Norwegian vocalist Sissel are available on the home page for visitors to view.

Conductor Craig Jessop introduces the musical clips as a "beliefnet exclusive," and viewers can then hear the choir sing one carol before Sissel is shown singing a second selection from the concert at the Conference Center downtown.

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Barrick said the beliefnet exclusive was a way to generate interest in the church itself as well as to promote the CD.

Deborah Caldwell, vice president of content and managing editor for beliefnet, said it's difficult to tell at this point what kind of response the clip is generating since it was posted to the home page on Wednesday night. The site has an audience of 9 million per day for its e-mail newsletter, which touts what is new so visitors can take a look.

Beliefnet's traffic is about 3 million unique visitors per month, Caldwell said. "Generally with features like this, it takes a little while. We wanted to attract people over the next few days before Christmas. Just like any site, some people come right away, and others are not coming every day. People may open the newsletter in two to three days and see a link to it."

At this point, the site is hosting a contest for those who click on the choir's video and want to win one of the concert CDs. Viewers are asked to respond with their five favorite Christmas songs for a chance to win.

The publicity comes at no cost to the church, Caldwell said, noting the Web site is constantly in contact with faith groups from all across the religious spectrum.

An official with the choir asked Caldwell last fall if the site would like an exclusive clip of the Christmas concert for the Web. "I immediately said that would be great. The choir is so popular anyway, and I loved the idea of presenting it to our audience. And the church thought that beliefnet was a good venue.

Recent comments

There are some good examples below your comment of rationalization....

Good Comment Amy | Dec. 29, 2007 at 10:29 p.m.

I agree with the above commenter who said Sissel is what makes this...

Stenar | Dec. 28, 2007 at 9:15 a.m.

"Spirit of the Season" is a delightful CD. Sissel has a wonderful,...

Pat H | Dec. 23, 2007 at 3:55 p.m.

Image
Keith Johnson, Deseret Morning News

Norwegian singer Sissel performs with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir last December during the Christmas concert at the Conference Center. She has been helping promote the CD of the concert.

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