Choir puts own stamp on music

Since the Mormon Tabernacle Choir made its first recording in 1910, the group has found a home on wax, vinyl, tape and CD.In all, there have been more than 150 albums, recorded with such

renowned music companies as CBS Records, Columbia, Sony and Telarc.

There have been five gold records (representing sales of 500,000) and

two platinum records (representing sales of at least 1 million). There

has been one Grammy, in 1960, for the choir's popular version of "The

Battle Hymn of the Republic."In 2003, however, the choir took things to a different level with the creation of its own record label."Craig Jessop proposed the idea of doing our own label," Mormon

Tabernacle Choir President Mac Christensen said. "At that time, we were

recording with Telarc, and they were wonderful to work with. But at the

end of the day, they owned the recording. They controlled everything.

Craig noted that we were a different choir now, and we needed to

control our own fate, our own future."The choir took the proposal to then-LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley, who gave it his stamp of approval.Producing records under your own name is one thing. Getting them

out to the general public, as any independent producer knows, is

another. For that, they turned to Deseret Book. Its values-based music

publisher, Shadow Mountain, is able to distribute and market products

nationwide, Christensen said.In the five years since its creation, the label has released 14

CDs and eight DVDs. Choir members have recently been "in the studio"

(or the Tabernacle, as the case may be) recording American folk hymns

for a release next spring.There will be a Christmas CD and DVD featuring the King's Singers

released this fall, with the possibility of one other release."It's been a magical thing to see how it has come forward,"

Christensen said. "The CDs and DVDs open a lot of doors for us, and,