Troy Sneed: The Emtro Gospel Story
THE EMTRO GOSPEL STORY
The word Emtro is a combination of the first names of Grammy-nominated gospel singer/producer Troy Sneed and his wife, Emily. After a decade in the music business where Troy recorded for Savoy Records and coached the Georgia Mass Choir during their success with Whitney Houston’s double-platinum The Preacher’s Wife movie soundtrack, Troy and Emily stepped out in faith in 2003 and started Emtro from their Jacksonville, FL home. The Sneeds were displeased with the promotion of Sneed’s CDs and put their money where their mouths were. Emily maintained two jobs to pay the bills while Sneed circled the country visiting radio stations and pushing retailers to stock CDs by his artists and the rest is history.
Their first CD was Youth for Christ’s Love Comes in All Colors followed by projects by L. Spenser Smith, Pastor Rudolph McKissick, Terri McConnell and Sneed’s own State of Worship project. While those projects sold respectably, the label didn’t really begin to take off until their surprise hit with Sneed leading Top 20 smash “The Right Place” on Pastor Rudolph McKissick’s CD of the same name in 2005.
Since then, the independent label has astounded the gospel music industry by placing an amazing eight songs in the Top 20 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel chart within two years – including Youth for Christ’s Stellar-award winning smash “The Struggle is Over” which remained #1 for a dozen weeks.
Now, Emtro Gospel is beginning a new chapter with the launch of T Records. The new firm will be run by Sneed’s college-age son, Troy “TJ” Sneed, Jr. With distribution via IDN (Innovative Distribution Network) and the Alliance Entertainment Corporation, the first release will be the April 2008 release of “Supreme 7” a gospel quartet with their single “Another Yes”. As the label expands, they intend to sign more gospel artists and continue to churn out radio-friendly gospel music.
