Photo of Ed and Chris Shinn, Posted by Chad on Facebook Options

[Hobbsy]

Great photo posted by CT on his fb page!

Looks like two people got owned today!

[SJN1279]

Great photo posted by CT on his fb page!

Looks like two people got owned today!

Still taking pot shots. Let's see how new Live's popularity holds up to Live with Ed Kowalczyk.

This post has been edited by SJN1279: Feb 27 2013, 8:44 am

[Pingfah]

Still taking pot shots. Let's see how new Live's popularity holds up to Live with Ed Kowalczyk.

Live's popularity has been on a swift downward trajectory ever since Throwing Copper 18 years ago, culminating in utterly pitiful sales for SFBM. I'll go out on a limb here and say that is probably because the crossover appeal between hard rock and religious folk-pop is not particularly great, and the band failed to engage with the potential markets for their new fluffier material, whilst simultaneously alienating their original fan base.

Of course, a degree in economics is not required to know that the band likely isn't expecting to replicate either level of success with a new singer. In fact from their point of view, all that matters is, will Live with a new singer be more popular than their other main source of income, The Gracious Few? The answer to which is, almost certainly yes. Live has much greater name recognition than TGF, it's gonna shift more copies and fill bigger venues. Period.

So from that angle, which I have dubbed "reality", the band has clearly made the smartest decision available to them. Not only do they get to continue with their fantastic side project, but they also get to write and perform under the moniker that they built their careers on. Since the alternative is to simply abandon Live and all the work they put into it and continue trying to scratch out a career solely as TGF, this is a win-win situation for them.