ABSTRACT
This chapter offers an overview of the existing perspectives on music, marketing, and religion. Although there have been several academic and popular studies of music and branding, branding and religion, and countless treatises throughout the ages on religion and music, there have been few attempts to study music, branding, and religion as a single rubric. The language of branding is used with regularity in academic writing, the popular and Christian press, and in everyday discussions about the church. Most of Hillsong’s musicians, administrators, and participants would argue that the economic benefits of branding are a secondary effect of a primary goal, and the money is reinvested into growing the church, which helps achieve this. The broad application of branding terminology as a way of describing a church like Hillsong is just one of many ways of viewing both evangelical Christianity and consumer culture. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
