On Friday, Shirley Halperin of EW.com dropped this gossip bomb–not only had Ruben Studdard been dropped by J Records, but Taylor Hicks had been as well.
That bit of news percolated around the internet for a few days while the usual suspects did their research, and now many publications, including Billboard.com, FOX news, Rollingstone, and the Associated Press (many news outlets are picking up the AP story) covering the story.
From EOnline News
J Records has confirmed the departures of former Idol champs Taylor Hicks and Ruben Studdard from the label that signed them after their respective wins on the hit Fox show.
“Taylor is going to record on his own for the next album,” J Records’ Liz Morentin wrote in an email Monday. “Ruben Studdard is still signed to 19 Entertainment [the production/management company behind Idol], and is currently working on his new album, however it will not be distributed by J Records.”
And from Mary Colurso of the Birmingham News:
Attempts to reach Hicks have been unsuccessful. During a recent interview with The Birmingham News, he stopped short of confirming that he’d left the label. However, Hicks said he looked forward to more creative freedom when recording his next disc. “I’ll also have the time now to create an album without the post-winning ‘Idol’ constrictions,” he said. “I have time for the album to breathe artistically.”
Taylor and J Records never seemed like a good fit. I never bought Taylor as a Top 40 pop star to begin with. Here’s hoping Taylor finds another label who’ll nurture his talent. I can picture Taylor recording a rootsy record, promoting it not only to Adult Contemporary, but also to the hipper Adult Alternative market–a market that actually moves albums. In the meantime, I’m sure Taylor will continue to perform on the road, where he really shines.
Finally it is official!!! Now let the spin begin….and then let the dust settle…and let the man get on with what he does best!
I appreciate your take on this Mj….your last paragraph says exactly what I have thought all along. I will add that although this didn’t seem like a match made in heaven from the *get-go*, I also think that the music industry is changing so rapidly ,(the music labels are beginning to struggle with low cd sale #s), that this will happen to more artists this year. I just wonder how this will effect the new AI and what deals will be offered to the *winner*….or winners.
I wish him well…..I LOVE his talent and entertaining! Pix
P.S. Ok I have to say this…..GREAT PICTURE!! *sorry*
And one more question….why are the artist unable or reticent to comment on this when it happens? I know it won’t prevent the speculation to continue but I don’t understand the artist and label not setting issues straight. Hummmmmmmmmm….Pix
Reading this version of the press release, I’m more confused by Ruben’s situation than Taylor’s. Ruben’s still working on his album, has the same management company but is released by J Records. So how’s he covering the cost of the record.
All in all, it shows how complicated it can either be or seem to be :-)
I can’t wait for Taylor’s next album. It will be interesting to see what he can do with the talent he came into AI with and the experience he has had since. I expect at least one song to be dedicated to Clive/Simon/Nigel … heh.
Interesting that Ruben will still work with 19E. That seems to be good news for him as they will continue to support his career (for awhile). I guess they don’t want to tarnish the Idol winner’s crown. Taylor is a whole other story. It’s pretty obvious the label/show doesn’t care about him at all. There must be tons of bad blood.
I know there have been many conversations here about the different labels that the idols are/have been signed to, but I can’t recall all the details. Is Fantasia also on J Records? Any others? It just seems weird to me that it is one label doing the dumping…
That record company didn’t do him any favors !! Now, he has a chance to showcase himself.. he’s pretty business-savvy anyway.. Love you , Taylor Hicks !
I don’t believe Clive ever wanted to deal with Taylor. It is clear Taylor was never the priority at Arista/J Records. I agree wholeheartedly with MJ about the Adult Alternative route for Taylor. He belongs right in there with the Ray LaMontagnes, Amy Winehouses, and Mark Broussards.
Pretty sure this was a mutual kiss-off, but Taylor’s people aren’t in any hurry to reveal his next move. The only clues we have is from that recent interview with Elvis radio, where he said he’s set to write with Steve Cropper (of Stax), and that he’ll be recording wherever “they” send him.
Let me give my spin on things and what I’ve culled from the gossip pages:
Taylor had a multi-selling self-produced CD before IDOL, and from what I gather he was as surprised as anybody else that he made it to the top 10 and to the final spot. His self-produced CD from what I read sold 400,000 copies, all proceeds to him.
He was never a good fit for J / Clive and just went along to get along. Behind the scenes, there was a rumor that he was “difficult” and standoffish with the other Idols. And you know, Simon never warmed to him.
IMO he’s one of the “Sharon Jones and the Dap King” type of singers.
As for Reuben, he was up against the 8 ball. Great voice, but there are so many other “great” R&B voices and unless Reuben wanted to morph into an R. Kelly, he didn’t have a chance. But if he’s still with 19E, then they’re the ones finding him singing & Broadway gigs. He’s probably just happy to keep working.
BTW, I just noticed that Aint Misbehaving has a date in Chicago February 2008 and I intend to be there. I saw the play many moons ago and would like to see it with him and Frenchie.
As for Reuben recording and going with another label, that seems to be the trend these days. To record your CD independently (ala Prince & Elliot) and then find a label to distribute it. Blame Prince for this, and for some artists it works for some it doesn’t.
I agree w/ hoodathunk. I never planned on the Idol CD being a big hit for Taylor, unless they gave him songs that really matched him like Carrie got lucky with. I also got the sense from many interviews that Taylor was saying the politically correct thing about “give and take” but really felt he didn’t think he had the control he liked, so I’m not surprised. I think he’ll thrive in a different environment. Maybe still not top 40, maybe a smaller niche market, but I think he’ll be happier with what he puts out and then touring. I can’t wait for the next CD.
Does Taylor still have a management firm? I thought he left, or was dropped, by The Firm?
Also, if he’s producing his own cd, I guess it would be impossible to get collaborations with other major artists. I suspect he wouldn’t be able to pay for it, and they probably wouldn’t want to get involved with an artist they that was just dropped. Also, I guess this means that Ray Charles’ studio, etc. is ‘out’ for the next cd recording?
Kind of bummed. Seems like he’s got a real struggle ahead of him now … especially with all the negative press and perceptions that will follow.
pix … I wondered the same exact thing. Are they not allowed to say something ? Didn’t Kelly try and it almost came out as $%^$@& !!? Maybe that’s why. I’d rather the reps for the companies get mis-quoted.
Celebrity xRank
Well, it took a few days, but once AP got it, it’s everywhere. This keeps up and his “celebrity ranking” may get talked about almost as much as Britney. Sigh. :(
Hopefully, we’ll hear something from Taylor’s camp soon, even if it’s just something like Ruben’s management who said the parting was mutual. I just tend to think BOTH wanted to be free of the other.
Chicago-Sally — love that sales figure! Hope it’s true ~~ that would explain why he didn’t give a rat’s patootie about Clive and the boys! hah
(Said in best Pushing Daisies narrator voice) The facts are these: Taylor joined American Idol to get a record deal. He won and got his record deal. Now he doesn’t have a record deal any more.
There’s no effective way to spin that. That’s the reason most news coverage is negative, because it *is* negative. When Jane Q Public reads about this, she doesn’t have time for spin anyway. With her short attention span, the only thing that will register is this: “Oh, the gray haired Idol dude dropped, same as that obese winner from five years ago.”
Taylor’s not saying anything because there’s nothing to say. The only antidote to make this news somewhat less embarrassing is for him to announce that he signed with another label. If Taylor is a savvy businessman, he should have said something by now.
Right now very few people outside of Idol heads have heard of this. When Idol Season 7 starts up in a week, this juicy tidbit will be snarked on and mentioned in every Idol related article. This leak is perfectly timed to reach the maximum number of people.
Chicago-Sally,
Where did you read this ? The figures we have been getting were 10 times less than that …
Be that as it may, a Filipino poster from the Official Soul Patrol thread says that after Taylor’s concert in Manila, his self-produced CDs were on sale and were quickly snapped up. However, finding his latest album in the Manila stores was DIFFICULT.
See last two posts here :
http://www.theofficialsoulpatrol.com/forum/index.php?topic=28089.25
Go figure… I wonder who the genius is doing Taylor’s promos…
NOW Im happy. My main excuse for the crappy CD he put out was that his creative abilities were being hampered, hog tied. Now the rubber meets the road. His next CD should be exactly what Taylor does best. It should be fantastic and full of music like Aint No Sunshine, Georgia, Heart and Soul and Happier With Him and his awesome cover of HN which he performed to perfection at Rehearsals.com. I still havent gotten over that and yes, I “go to church” regularly on that one. Taylor cant do what it do when he’s restrained and that CD had him bound and shackled.
>>However, finding his latest album in the Manila stores was DIFFICULT.>>
Of course it was difficult. They make great door stoppers. I’ve got 4 of them.
Well, not with J Records anyway.
Clive/AI didn’t like Taylor because he was not supposed to win. They wanted to “show” the American voters they got it wrong. That’s what the too-powerful do when they don’t get their way.IMO
Actually, he stated on several occasions that he joined AI to get some exposure in the local circuit. He was hoping to get a few more frat gigs, etc out of the deal. There is no doubt though that once he was in the top 12 that he wanted to win. But whether he valued the record contract or not - only he could say.
I think trying out for AI and wanting to win the record contract are two very different things as Season 7’s “I just wanted to make top 10″ mantra proved. IMHO, I think he wanted to win so he could validate his career choice and his talents to himself and to his family. Obviously though, I am sure he valued the record contract at the time but not so sure if he still does given the strings that are attached.
Even E!News is seeing the winning contract as an albatross:
E! News
“Given recent events, recording-artist hopefuls might be vying for no better than a second-place finish.”
“Given recent events, recording-artist hopefuls might be vying for no better than a second-place finish.â€
When E!News talks about recent events they are referring to Ruben and Taylor losing their record deal. E!News is saying is that winning the show is an albatross, not the “winning contract.”
Wikipedia has Taylor label listed as DEF JAM. I know this is far from offical, but could this be true? I hope so!
dingo…u rock !!! LOLOLOL you say things in the best light !!
I think WIKI’s wrong on this one. There’s no way Taylor’s on DEF JAM. I would be totally shocked.
Oh well, it’s already been changed so I guess it’s not true. I sure would like to hear something offical from Taylor’s camp.
I think they were also including Jordin’s sales in the recent news bit. I am not sure how you are distinguishing between winning the show and the winning contract. Winning the show has it’s negative aspect because it comes with its high expectations which are becoming incresingly hard to meet given the current downturn of CD sales. However, winning the 1st place contract comes with it’s share of negative aspects because of these expectations - such as the obligatory Diane Warren song and cheesy AI single. In the past a top 40 singer wouldn’t consider the show or contract an albatross while an R&B artist and a soul singer probably would. However, in lite of Jordin’s sales and perceived failings perhaps even the Top-40 artists should start angeling for second place too.
Well, someone’s already edited that and wanted to make sure it shows “dropped” under the label. Original labels were correct, damn it, and showed Arista 2006-2007 and Independent 1997-2005.
Just think of all the reasons Taylor could not have sold 400,000 copies of one of his two previously released albums. He would have been pretty well-known in the music industry when he auditioned; he would have been eliminated from consideration. He has said that he sold the first two albums out of his trunk. Picture 400,000 CD’s being stockpiled, advertised, sold, paid for, and shipped that way. That’s quite a few trips to the post office for Taylor. You can probably think of lots of other things that would be different if Taylor had sold 400,000 copies before he even went on AI. It’s counterproductive to make these wild claims.
For all the *disheartened* Taylor fans posting here…or lurking…..go to the front page and watch Chris Sligh’s video. That will put a lift in your mood……way too funny! These guys know how to put things into perspective! ….pix
Wikipedia has Taylor label listed as DEF JAM. I know this is far from offical, but could this be true? I hope so!
As of this writing, whoever edited that Taylor Hicks article on Wikipedia has now changed the information to this:
LABEL:
1997-2005 INDEPENDENT
2006-2007 ARISTA
which is more correct.
Someone with the IP address : 76.113.168.0 did all of the editing today.
DEF JAM is a hip-hop label. It is highly unlikely they’ll want to sign Taylor.
I think the claim was he sold tens of thousands of his pre-Idol CD AFTER he was well known ( after his voice was “heard” on Idol ), not before ( so we can ignore the part where he was selling his CD out of his cars during his pre-idol days, those count for little).
I remember someone in this board mentioning something like 17,000 units early in 2006. He has probably sold triple that amount by now ( after winning and during his concert tours, and even in Manila where it was selling quite well according to reports from those who attended his concert). Laser’s Edge was quite busy pressing his CD’s in the 3rd quarter of 2006 up to Summer last year. But 400,000 is unlikely, so I don’t know where that number came from.
I know I am not an expert on the music industry but Taylor’s albums sales do not look bleek at all. Not every artist sells millions with every CD. I think his sales were quite respectable.
But I think he will do just fine with another label; hopefully one that will give him some free reign.
Now if only Clive would ditch Clay!!!! He needs a new label too!!!
Coletta, I have no idea if the # is accurate but I think Chic-sally was talking about his sales after idol, sold at his concerts and elsewhere. They were in great demand at the concerts I attended. Tables were quickly empty of his previous cd’s….sales were real good!
Coletta, I think the poster was referring to his sales since AI not before. Since AI, TH’s 2 previous CD’s have been on sale exclusively through Laser’s Edge in AL, TH and Laser’s Edge websites, and at the concerts. However, I highly doubt the 400k number is right. The Vibe article (Nov 2006) stated he sold 17k UTR as of Aug 2006 which at that time was only available at one store in AL via PayPal. I am sure that he has sold quite a bit since at his concerts and with the addition of the newly rereleased In Your Time CD sales, it’s probably more like 50k-100k combined. Which isn’t a bad chunk of change.
ETA: Sorry, for the duplicate post, it seems quite a few others beat me to the punch.
“Under the Radar” did not sell 400,000 copies. More like 14,000. Great album though. 100% written and produced and rights owned by Taylor Hicks. Unlike his Arista album, he’s free to sell it forever and ever and keep all the profits.
17,000 was the number quoted at the time Taylor won AI in 2006. However as posted by various others ( see neonorange above for instance ), he has sold significantly more since then.
Not disheartned at all. In fact I am actually feeling quite right with the world again. The TH CD was my first major label purchase in quite some time and it kinda sticks out in my collection. It was so kind of Taylor to take this hit for me to make things right in my world once again, LOL.
I will definitely check out Chris’s video.
Let’s just remember that Chicago-Sally “thought she heard” 400,000. That figure is totally unsubstantiated. So until there are some actual figures from Soundscan (I’ve never seen them printed or posted ANYWHERE) I would not go spreading any figures around.
No way the Soul Patrol only purchased 14-17,000 of Taylors indie recordings. One for me, one for you, one for my dog, one for my dentist, one for my shrink, . . .cheaper by the dozen.
And I doubt he sold 400,000.
But I’d give 200,00 a guess.
American Idol winner Taylor Hicks has announced that he and Arista Records have mutually agreed to part ways,†reads a statement from his camp.
Here is the rest of the article kind of takes a swipe at both Taylor and Jordan.
http://www.okmagazine.com/news/view/3681
I just found this posted on Taylor Hick’s myspace. We finally here from the man…..
A statement from Taylor: To all my fans and The Soul Patrol, I want to take a moment to talk about the recent news that my label and I have mutually parted ways. The important thing for all of you to remember is that I’ve been a working musician my whole life. This is turning the page on a new chapter of my career. Artistic freedom and control is an exciting prospect. The things that are most important to me is creating my art, performing it, and my fans. With the momentum that all of you have created over the years, Taylor Hicks is not going to stop anytime soon. I’ve started working on the new album, writing and scheduling exciting collaborations. The DVD, Whomp at the Warfield, is in it’s final stages, and will be released soon. So as one door closes, a new one opens for 2008 with more excitement for all my fans than ever before. Sit tight, because the best is yet to come!
www.myspace.com/taylorhicks
the above article about the okmagazine was posted already by Bobbie. I should of looked thier.
Steve Cropper - original member of Booker T and the MG’s..the Stax House Band. What an honor. Man that’s HUGE! I see that Stax operates under the umbrella of the Concorde Music Group. I think the Stax reformation couldn’t have come at a better time, and to think Hicks might be a part of the roster…Oh Lordee!
According to the okmagazine site,
This is the real news :
Taylor Hicks Parts with Record Label
Taylor Hicks has split with his record company, his rep announces.
“American Idol winner Taylor Hicks has announced that he and Arista Records have mutually agreed to part ways,†reads a statement from his camp.
Those were just the INITIAL sales numbers during his run at American Idol. Of course he has sold significantly more than that since then.
this one is going to be a tough one on Taylor. losing a major label contract is tough on anyone’s career but for a “new” artist it is really bad. Taylor will do well for a while with the touring but you can’t do the same city 4 times a year and receive top dollar. it’s almost ending up where he started. sure he has more fans but he’s not even close to where he was when he won idol. let’s hope he made good financial decisions for his rocky future. good luck, man!
http://music.hollyscoop.com/american-idol/…arista_268.aspx
Mr. Hicks was not dropped by his label, as has been widely reported over the past couple of days. His lawyers were able to get him removed from his contract for a variety of reasons, including breach of contract and failure to comply with promised promotion, among other things. Mr. Hicks has agreed not to reveal the terms of the separation for a specific period of time. In other words, J Records/RCA didn’t give Hicks what they promised, he wants more artistic freedom and better promotion, he was able to get out of his contract and he has agreed not to reveal any details at this time. Bear in mind that the new season of American Idol is coming up, and they can’t afford more negative publicity - look how badly their treatment of Mr. Hicks impacted last season’s show.
Posted by: fromtheinside on 01/08/2008 06:38 AM
A random, anonymous comment on an obscure gossip message board…
Taylor has scored himself an invite to the Bob Hope golf tournament again. Look for play on the Golf Channel next week.
This has really been a lesson for me to read (whether here or in the press) all these comments spoken like facts….speculation repeated as gospel truth….opinions stated as facts. You read something somewhere and then it is repeated and repeated as truth and *it* becomes the truth….. I know this is nothing new but it does remind me that these are young (idols)….people…. here trying their best to make it in the music world and what is said and what is written has an impact on them. I know this is insignificant in the scheme of bigger things but it does cause me to pause and weigh my words more carefully. *sigh*