It's kind of a political cartoon of sorts I guess. No, the "Catholic Liturgy" is hauling away the Libers and the Graduals on its runaway course.

It's pretty rich with symbolism. You could say the ground that becomes a cliff is the Church, which the truck is quickly driving off. Of course, "Darth Mammon" is driving the truck and the publishers are giving him "wheels". The wheels, however, are square and make for a very bumpy ride. The "Parish Collections" fuel the whole scenario. Of course, the "stink" of it all is the advertising, subscriptions and constant barrage of promotions that we all get in the mail and is pushed via the clergy and staff of parishes who are either ignorant or uneducated about what the liturgy is supposed to be about. Of course, in the end, only Darth Mammon is committing suicide. Unfortunately, he is taking us all for a scary ride!

I got my first Liber from a stack that was being thrown out. Another from a priest who had it in seminary and didn't need it anymore.

While I am not a fan of everything that GIA sells, I do have to say, that they do carry quite a bit of good, authentic, sacred music. The Ars Antiqua Choralis series is particularly good. To be frank, of the Big Three, I think that GIA is generally of higher quality - which I think is because they understand the idea of permanence. Whereas OCP and WLP make their living off of disposables, GIA focuses on permanent resources - hardbound hymnals, etc.

And the fact that I don't like everything that GIA sells is not GIA's fault: I don't like everything that Oxford University Press or ChesterNovello or Universal Edition sell either. They are companies that are trying to make money in a capitalist (more or less) system, they do that by selling what people want across a large spectrum of varying styles.

Whereas OCP and WLP make their living off of disposables, GIA focuses on permanent resources - hardbound hymnals, etc

Some of this has to do with copyright issues and what GIA will and won't allow in a hardbound hymnal. WLP's (beautiful) new One In Faith hymnal is missing several key "popular" hits from the GIA catalog.

(OMG I am SO SHOCKED that copyright laws are causing problems....)

I've said this before, but my general assessment of the Big Three goes something like:
WLP: Provide what the Church needs.
GIA: Decide what the Church needs.
OCP: MONEY MONEY MONEY

Yes. Please don't think I am demonizing the publishers. They are out to make a living. However, when you HAVE to make a living selling liturgical resources, it is very difficult not to bend to market demand and lower common denominator (generic) pieces that ALL denominations can utilize. And, let's face it... most of the stuff is played to amateurs who fill the postions in the parish.

As I understand it, GIA used to be the biggest supporter and promoter of GC years and years ago. GREGORIAN Institute of America. So, unfortunately, even they have strayed from the focus.

In my mind they are all still selling square wheels (perhaps some rounder than others) when it comes to promoting authentic sacred music.

The more music in put in front of a congregation, the fewer people will sing.

It's called overwhelming the victim.

I always wonder, how would people even know of or be in the market for awful music if no one published it and no one advertised it. It seems to me that this is just a market created for people who would never otherwise have thought of the junky things we are always being told that they 'want', that there is a 'demand for' that just erupted from nowhere. What if everybody stopped publishing Haugen and companions and started 'marketing' Whitacre, Britten, Poulenc, and Monteverdi?

What if everybody stopped publishing Haugen and companions and started 'marketing' Whitacre, Britten, Poulenc, and Monteverdi?

Kinda reminds me of what I call "abusing the captive audience". That is, without the artificial market created by Sunday obligation (pardon the crude analogy), the stuff would die. Even atheists buy recordings of and enjoy plainchant. No one but Catholics suffering from a kind of Stockholm Syndrome listen to the greatest hits of Gather outside of Mass.

I used to listen to a lot of David Haas (and Friends) CDs, and still listen to them from time to time.
But, then, most of his stuff that I listened to doesn't ever get used, even in the folkiest of folk Mass parishes.
(Also, I listen to A LOT of off-the-wall indie folk and ethno-fusion music, so my tastes are hardly representative of the Boomer crowd who just want to hear On Eagles Wings every other week.)