Gospel musician Celestine Donkor says a Gospel artiste cannot survive in the music industry without giving the business side of the industry equal attention as the ministry.

According to her, the business and ministry are two sides of the Gospel music industry that operate together to make an artiste succeed.

Speaking on Joy FM's Showbiz A-Z on Saturday, Celestine Donkor said “I think the Gospel music industry is like a coin, it has two sides. It is 100% ministry on one side of the coin and 100% business on the other side.”

“Anybody who says that you can operate on one side, which is the ministry, without the business, is not in for a serious place in the industry. Also, anyone being on the business side of the coin without considering the ministry side is not complete.”

She stated that although people chastise gospel artistes for charging to perform in churches, she believes that the Church is the marketplace for artistes.

However, artistes must make a choice to offer their services to their local church at no cost, she added.

“There is my local church which I attend. By my personal decision, I feel I owe my service to that church. Therefore, it is not even morally okay for me to talk about money when it comes to my local church, even if I put aside whatever investment they have done in my life, what opportunities they have given me.”

“I think it is a personal decision an artiste must take, that where you serve, that local church is your seed, that is my perception. That is a different thing altogether. But when we are talking about the church as in national or global church in relation to gospel artiste, that is also a different ball game,” Celestine Donkor said.

Also supporting the singer's point was VGMA 2021 Male Vocalist of the Year, MOG, who said he also does not take money for performances he does in his local church.

For other churches, he said, "I have decided that when I am going to a church to go and minister, I don't charge. But, I would want to find out how much you can bless myself and my team with, if it is something to go by then we work with it."

However, for a corporate event, he and his team talk about a fee.