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Taylor Hicks has been given the Ruben Studdard treatment by J Records. Both American Idol winners have been dropped by the label in the past month. Ouch!
Entertainment Weekly is reporting that a label rep has said the following: "Taylor is going to record his next album on his own. He is no longer on the J Records roster."
I’m kind of worried about some of the other Idol alums now. What does this mean for the future of record deals for former contestants? I know it’s business and labels are going to keep the ones who make them money but I know from my Idol Stalker readers that Taylor does, indeed, have fans.
What do you guys think?
But, so what if he was dropped? If it turns out that he gave the label the old heave ho then I will make sure I write a whole thing about it and apologize for my choice of words. It definitely could mean a lot of things but, in my eyes, particularly after what happened with Ruben, Taylor has been dropped.
In the meantime, I was hoping we’d be talking about what happens now for Taylor and future Idols (and underperforming ones like Jordin Sparks).
that headline with the word “dropped” in it has a question mark after it? like as if they were ASKING if he were dropped.
the text of the article says he “lost” the cotract, he could have lost that in many different ways I suppose. hmmm
Kelly C. is prolly on the phone now with Taylor asking him how he freed himself! haha!
Ohno – I’m so sorry. Did you have a link to a story that said Taylor bought out his contract? I would be thrilled to add it to this post so that people don’t get confused. Artists get dropped all the time and it’s not a reflection on them as an artist so I don’t think there’s a need to get defensive. What if he really was dropped? Does that mean he’s less than what he would be if he bought out his contract? Not in my eyes…
I’m looking for a good album from him.
Jean – I understand your first comment. I should have explained that I hoped the fact that he has fans who are willing to send me lots of emails and defend him meant that he had a ton of non-internet based support. You are right, though. He has not been well promoted. I talked about this recently but people disagreed with me.
I also think you are right – if Taylor had bought out the contract, it probably would have been announced. It’s a big deal to get dropped but I think it’s a bigger deal when an artist tells a label to get lost. Look at the sh*t storm about Kelly Clarkson last year.
I disagree Jeanne – EW likes to sensationalize stories, so the headline of “dropped” sounds more dramatic than “Taylor buys out record contract”. Taylor has been dropping clues for months about this departure, both in song tags and clues, so there is no doubt in my mind that he gave Clive the boot – not the other way around. Ultimately tho, it doesn’t matter. What will matter is the quality of the next album and with him have complete control, I look for a brilliant album.
Um, the referring article from Entertainment Weekly uses the word “dropped.” I think it’s more than fair to assume that this is what has happened.
Sorry, the title of the article and this blog uses the term dropped – perhaps discontinued relationship would be better.
Usually when someone buys out thier contract (Nikki McKibben not withstanding) they have another announcement of a new label out at the same time to make a positive out of it and not to let people dwell on the negative.
So will this affect the DVD?
Ohno, I agree with you. Enough of haivg to record all hese stupid songs when you have great voice, whats the point?? Go on your own Taylor
The article did NOT say he was ‘dropped’. Taylor mentioned back at least 3 months that he wanted to buy out his contract. This came from one of his inner-circle, so I’m convinced Taylor either bought out his contract or asked to be released. Taylor is no puppet. He will do what he wants to and what’s best for him. Thank goodness he has the BALLS to stand up for himself and flip ‘ol Clive ‘the bird’.
“I’m kind of worried about some of the other Idol alums now. What does this mean for the future of record deals for former contestants? I know it’s business and labels are going to keep the ones who make them money but I know from my Idol Stalker readers that Taylor does, indeed, have fans.”
Let me discuss this in reverse.
Taylor does have fans indeed, but internet fans are a small portion of the fan base you need and it is the non-internet fans that buy most of the records, etc. Taylor has been touring a lot, but not getting all that much press or television coverage and is not played much on the radio. This does not help continuing sales. Did he even get a video? I don’t remember it.
BMG considers the first album sales as anomaolies because of the huge ratings of their season of AI, the sales are expected to drop off a lot without a tie in to a movie or TV show for continued exposure.
Taylor had the shortest contract of a maximum of 3 albums, which shows that lack of expectations/support of BMG. He was the first winner who was not signed by 19M. He is not a cookie cutter kind of guy, he is not what is “popular”. It was posted on a message board that Jordan has a one album contract, but I have not seen anything in print myself. Prior to this it was alternately speculated the idol contracts were 7 or 5 albums.
The future idol signing – well, I think Daughtry and Pickler show show that the label has to sign the winner, but will still sign anyone they think they can market. It is possible being the runner up no longer guarantees a contract, but anyone can be selected. Jordan and Blake sales show that just because people vote for you, sales are not a sure thing.