The news that only 300 people showed up to audition at Saturday’s Idol San Juan, Puerto Rico cattle call sent me on a search for numbers. How did this year’s overall audition numbers stack up to last year’s?
As it turns out, numbers Season 8 audition numbers are down across the board from Season 7.
I’m hearing rumors that the small local auditions, usually held by FOX affiliates around the country, are seeing good numbers, but I don’t have any confirmation of that rumor.
My guess for the low turnout (stateside at least, I have no clue what’s going on in Puerto Rico) is the lousy economy and high gas prices are keeping auditioners from traveling long distances.
Or, perhaps it’s Idol fatigue finally settling in.
What do you think?
Check out the stats after the JUMP…
Season 8 Auditions
- San Francisco - July 17 - 7,000
- Louisville - July 21 - 10,000
- Phoenix - July 25 - 5,500
- Salt Lake City - July 29 - 6000
- San Juan - Aug 2 - 300
Still to come - Kansas City, Aug 8, Jacksonville, Aug 13 and E. Rutherford, Aug 19.
Season 7 Auditions
- San Diego - July 30 - 12,000
- Dallas - Aug 6 - 13,000
- Omaha - Aug 10 - 15,000
- Atlanta - Aug 14 - 12,000
- Charleston - Aug 18 - 10,000
- Miami - Aug 22 - 9,000
- Philadelphia - Aug 27 - 20,000
* Season 8 numbers were gathered from various newspaper accounts. Season 7 numbers are from newspaper accounts, and Ryan Seacrest’s numbers from the audition episodes. The audition episode numbers were off a bit from the newspaper accounts (Rodney Ho reported 15,000 auditioners in Atlanta. Dallas newspapers reported 10,000).
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I would also agree with gas prices and the economy being the main reason for the low turnout but maybe the abundance of so-called ringers last season has disillusioned people. On the plus side, the smaller turnout means less bad auditions to sit through.
Agree with you and MJ about the economy playing a big role. It’s just not feasible for a lot of people to travel across the country for a 1% shot at making it past the first round.
I’m not sure disillusionment is playing too much of a role, though. Although last season’s overall ratings were down, the finale redeemed the show somewhat, and most people agree that the talent last year was ultimately the best the show has had. Despite the backstage and onstage manipulations, it’s still one of the best ways for a musician to get his or her name out there quickly. And I think musicians will be auditioning in the same numbers as before. It’s the weirdos and the “what the hell” auditioners that are probably staying at home rather than spending big bucks to stand in line for hours.
Wow, it’s definitely a downturn. I think that like soundscene said though if anything the serious musicians, both experienced and not will still take the shot. The nutcases who do it simply to be on tv will probably think twice about the expense. At lease we can hope.
I would think people who would normally lose their day job auditioning won’t take that chance this year either, the jobs are harder to come by now…
From your keyboard to God’s in-box!
Could demographics be a factor? Have no idea what the birthrate was between 1980-90 (when the bulk of eligible auditioners would have been born).
I think if someone is really serious about making it big, and realizes that this indeed may be their chance for a big break, gas prices and economy might not be such a huge deal. However, I could see the possibility of fewer people being willing to take that risk.
The lower numbers do worry me, but as someone said before, maybe fewer auditioners means fewer crazies. The first few seasons, delusional people who thought they were the next big thing were funny. Now, it’s just redundant. I hate to think that this past season, out of the Top 40, we may have only seen the auditions of twenty of them, if that. That’s a sad thing. Fortunately, people like Jason Castro managed to survive.
It’s no secret that new life needs to be breathed into American Idol. Let’s hope that perhaps the departure of Nigel means that the door is opening for more creativity.
Possible reasons -
1) Contestant fatigue - giving up time to queue up year after year only to get rejected can’t be fun.
2) “The show is rigged in favour of the like of Carly Smithson and not me” idea gaining currency.
3) No one of the likes of Sanjaya this year, no one to make people think “oh, I can surely do better than this, if he can get on TV, why can’t I?.”
I don’t think fewer people auditioning would be better or worse. Many good singers get rejected in the early rounds by selectors who probably don’t have good ears for music and whose criteria for selection aren’t necessirily about singing ability at all. Fewer people auditioning may mean that the good singers get a better chance of going through to audition in front of Simon et al. Things just get even out.
The fact that the producers larded the cast with ringers as contestants, blatantly scripted evaluations by the judges, and, of course, the ridiculous non-singing related insults, effectively, disheartens everyone who watches the show and de-legitimizes American Idol as being what it is purported to be, namely, a competition based reality show with a fan participation determined outcome.
Season 7 laid bare that the show, as it relates to the music industry, is more of a promotional tool for the people RCA wants to sign and “the competition” is a charade that the shows viewers suspend their disbelief and play along with. Of course, purely as entertainment, the show works in its current state. However, convincing wannabes to take that day off work to do a cold audition cattle call gets more difficult in that context.
The low number from San Juan seems like an anomaly, but I suspect it will be harder to convince the aspiring artists out there, talent that may have participated in the cattle calls in past seasons, to do so in the wake of what transpired in Season 7.
Eh. I don’t think season 7 is any different from other seasons in those respects. 19E has always been manipulative, the audition process has been known for some time, and after all, none of the so-called “plants” actually won the thing. The show IS 7 years old, maybe folks are just starting to get a little tired. Plus, with the addition of instruments this year (and their effect on who made it far in the contest) it does seem like AI just got a little harder than it used to be. Plus, like MJ said, folks are kinda broke at the moment.
I’m thinking several factors are at work here:
1. Travel expenses are up. Fewer people who would be on the fence about auditioning will bother to go through with it. This could mean fewer 15-minute famewhores.
2. Last year’s ringer controversies. The serious singers might figure that the whole tihng is rigged anyway, so why bother? This could mean fewer real contenders.
3. Ratings down. Less hype overall = less motivation to audition. This could cut down on both famewhores and real contenders.
4. It’s all a bit long in the tooth by now. As each season passes, the aspects of AI that make it potentially fun/new/exciting diminish. The auditions have been done to death. We know the drill; a parade of delusional crazies can be fun for only so long. And even for the honest-to-goodness idols, as each new batch is added to the AI Collective Consciousness, they become less special. There’s a new crop every year! And if, as a fan, you’ve watched the show for several seasons, you begin to figure out the smoke and mirrors, and that makes the whole thing just less fun. So if being an actual idol isn’t seen in the same way as perhaps it once was, then surely people will be less likely to stand for hours and hours for the slim chance even to see Simon/Randy/Paula.
5. This one is a little fuzzy, but I wonder if potential auditioners were turned off by how the idols were treated last season. With all the manipulative BS that went on, it just seemed as if TPTB would “turn” on one contestant after another until their two favorites were left. If those who make it all the way to the top 24 are publicly treated like dirt, then why would anyone put so much effort into trying to get on the show?
That could very well be a part of it. It turned from an image/singing competition into an image/arrangement competition this year. In the past, the Idols were expected to conform to the genres. This year they were expected to change the genres to conform to them. Whole different ball of wax.
And the addition of instruments means that the pure singers may be left in the dust. Out of the Top 5, only one never played an instrument on the show. And 10 through 6 never played an instrument (not counting Chikezie’s harmonica). Whether it really made a difference is open to interpretation, but the perception may be that it did. So it could be that there are really great singers that just don’t think the competition is for them anymore.
I tend to go with the “no Sanjaya this year” theory. In past years they made it seem like almost anyone could make the top 12 if they had a voice, a gimmick, and some luck. This year the bar was much higher IMO so less people will audition just for the hell of it. Of course the economy, gas prices, and just lost interest that was never regained since Season 6 all factor in too.
However I’m not optimistic this’ll mean less “bad audition” episodes. If the producers want them they’ll scrounge up the material for them. Hopefully they’ve just made a policy decision to cut down on those eps anyway.
Since we are just speculating, I will go with the economy.
I think there were lots of people in the past,who in their hearts knew they didn’t stand a chance because they really didn’t have the talent. I think those people went for the experience, the chance to tell everyone they tried out, the fun of seeing everyone else there, and maybe meeting the person who would make it through. With the price of gas and with other economic realities, it’s an expensive form of entertainment. I don’t think the loss of those people will effect the quality of the contestants that make it through.
I wonder how Idol will spin the number for Puerto Rico audition. No overhead crowd shots for that one.
Andrew Cook for Fox KC at the Kansas City, MO Auditions.
Oh, you mean Andrew isn’t trying out this year. I figure that he might be hoping for “lightning to strike twice”.
Well, I know that if they were not having auditions within driving distance (i.e. - less than 5 hours) for me, I would not be going. However, they are coming to Jacksonville, and that’s 3 hours or less away from me. So… I’m going. :)
The addition of instruments is not deterring me though. I don’t play anything, but I don’t think it’s a “must” for a contestant to play an instrument. Last year, regardless of who played them in the semi’s and finals, they weren’t allowed at auditions, and all the contestants had to make it through on the strength of their voice and appeal and “story”, anyway. And they’re not allowed at auditions this year, either, from what I understand. If I make it to Hollywood and beyond… well, maybe I’ll start thinking a little more seriously about the whole instruments thing and strategy then. :)
In addition to gas prices — which would basically make the trips about 2-3X more expensive than what they were last year, from what I understand, there are lots of people who auditioned in the past who actually risked losing their jobs or actually quit jobs (multiple days off, etc.) to get through the audition gauntlet. If I understand the audition process correctly, you’ve got to take one day off to register/get the ‘bracelet’, another day off to actually audition in front of producers, then another day to come back for another round of producer auditions, and then another day a few weeks or a month later to get in front of Simon, Randy & Paula). That’s already 4 days even before you know you’re going to Hollywood. With the economy the way it is as well as gas prices, people just aren’t chancing that they’ll be able to get their jobs back or get comparable jobs if things don’t work out for them. It might just be too much of a financial sacrifice/gamble for lots of people — all of whom are at that 17-28 age group who aren’t going to be in a great income bracket anyway.
If not having a Sanjaya last season has anything to do with it (and I don’t think it does), that’s a good thing because I think season 7 was the best season ever for talent of the top 10. I sincerely doubt that really good singers will be turned off by ringer rumors because you can’t get there if you don’t tryout. Hopefully it’s the bad singers who are staying home.
I’ll go with 1)high gas prices 2)less interest in the show across the board 3)change in tone from reality TV competiton featuring amateurs to variety show stocked with professionals.
Almost the entired Top 12 this seaon had either been signed by a major label and dropped (Carly, Johns) , already released an independent album (Brooke, Cook) or participated on a musical reality TV show of some kind (Archie, Syesha, Jason) Why would some kid whose entire experience was a h.s. talent show think they could compete with that crew?
hey guys, first time commenting! I reading of all the people commenting on the anamoly of the PR auditions and no one knows what’s goings on. I do. I actually auditioned in the Puerto Rico auditions. Here’s what went down.
I am surprised that no one has commented on the PR auditions so I will.
I actually auditioned. There were roughly 1,000 people. 300 of which auditioned. I think it was just a poor number because most Puerto Ricans didn’t think they could sing in Spanish (which they could). I believe if in the promotions they would have specified that there would’ve been a LOT more people.
Anyways, the auditions started a hour earlier and everyone had auditioned by 11AM (I left at 10AM).I didn’t pass because they said my vocals weren’t strong enough but I pleasantly surprised when they said I was likable, good personality and GOOD STAGE PRESENCE (the last one actually shocked me
) The good thing was that since there were so few people the judges had more time and were more detailed in their critiques which was helpful for me.
While I met some really cool people (there’s this one girl I met whose a sweetheart from NC with a killer voice I’ll be watching out for, also there was a chick with a violin I really liked, and some dumb latino rocker who sucks but the judges “loved”).
I think that unforunately AI will never come back to PR due to such a poor showing (Hawaii had better numbers and AI hasn’t gone back either).
Overall, I really enjoyed my first American Idol experience, I met some cool people (which some of them passed), I got to see the process of selecting finalists and I appeared on TV singing!
I actually am gonna take some singing classes (I have only been singing for a month) and take the judges’ critiques to heart and hopefully I’ll be able to audition again for Season Nine!
I think it’s a combination of all the above thoughts. My daughter did a pre-audition in Newport,Ky (about 1 hr trip), she made the second round but changed her song for the 3rd round tryouts…darn it
, some boy won.
We went to the Louisville, Ky tryouts (only 2 hrs away, closest we have ever gone to). She didn’t make this one…that’s another story
she is considering NJ (10 1/2 hr trip) but doesn’t really feel it’s worth it….just might be smarter to use money for her CD
AI has been and remains the #1 television show, even with the drop off in viewers this past season, there are by far more people watching this show than any other. So, they still must be doing something right. That being said, I am also getting the feeling that there is a lot of backroom manipulation going on. I am sure there was some manipulation during previous seasons, but it sure seems to be more transparent now. I hope the focus can get back to the talent. To me that is the real draw of the show.
Thanks rayato!
Always better to hear from someone who was there!
So 1,000 people went, and 300 got to the judges?
Pretty cool.
Did they think that was a good turn out based on the population of the region?