The problem is that none of us know whether or not RCA has seen a profit from anyone, but more importantly, we don’t know what their expectations are for the various alums.  It’s not as simple as some fans seem to believe it is, based on what some people have said, RCA should have kept Taylor, since he sold over 700K albums, but that’s not the barometer that RCA was using.   The question for them was, is he a viable artist, who appeals to a market that we can reach.   That’s the question that they have for everyone.  It’s over simplifying things to say that Fantasia isn’t making them a profit because her last two albums have only gone Gold.  The issue here is that very few straight r&b acts are going to sell more than that, and I’m pretty sure that RCA knows that.

Who knows what their expectations are for Kris and Jordin, or how they feel about their last albums.  Personally, given how well Kris did with LLWD, and given that the new people in charge seem to be well versed in A&R, I tend to believe that they are asking themselves how could Jeff Fenster followup LLWD with The Truth.  The current head of RCA said that not all of the alums were given good A&R, and not all of them were open to what the people in charge of their A&R had to say.  I’m biased, but I believe that if they look at Kris’ situation, that they would come away thinking that he’s one of the alums who falls into the category of not receiving good A&R.  Very few artist are going to sell a lot of albums based on one song, and Kris never stood a chance of doing better than he did once Fenster decided to waste all that he accomplished with LLWD.  

The contracts that the idols sign is with 19, so I’m not even sure if it’s the label who is responsible for their advances.  And not to belabor the point, but none of us knows how much money the labels invest in the idol alums.  

Sorry, but your statement was “ It is really too bad but Adam might end up being the only idol with another album.”  The words “only idol” gives the implication that you are referring to all the previous idols, and not just picking Adam out of a group of those four.

Whatever. lol Time will tell anyway as far as what “idols” stay with RCA and produce new albums and what idols will leave RCA.

No offense, but you’re thinking like a fan of the show, and not in the way that a label representative would, that’s my point.  That’s why I used Taylor as an example.  When his album came out, more people were reaching Platinum level sales, but it was still considered a great achievement that the majority of artists never reached.  So, his 700K albums sold was a very good number.  So, why was he dropped?  It’s not because he didn’t sell a lot of albums, because he did, it was because Arista didn’t think that he was marketable or easy to market.

The label really isn’t going to put a lot of stock into how much someone sells to their AI fans, because that number doesn’t mean that someone has a strong base, that they fit the label, or that they will continue to sell at that level in the future.  The amount of time and effort that Sony has given to the alums, and whether or not they’ve picked up someone’s option is is directly related to how marketable they think that alum is.   

I see what you’re saying, but I still have trouble seeing a label wanting to invest in Kris or Cook for another round.  Both guys need to be reintroduced to the music buyers in a major way and have successful singles to help sell their albums.  Cook didn’t get either one and it seems that Kris will be a difficult one to reintroduce also.

I had the same thought as you elliegirl! I’m sure they’ll be like “WTH was this guy thinking by following up LLWD with an altered version of TT” When he clearly had choices like WAOMF, CSA, BWCU and AWM? *sigh* Buh-bye FENSTER!

Yes, we don’t know exactly who pays the advances, but someone does and seeing as the advance is recoupable (at least that what I seem to recall having heard) that someone ideally wants their money back. If the label itself has no hand in the advance, then I’m pretty sure that 19 would have a say in whether or not the label can pick up future options under the terms of the original contract. Because it makes no sense whatsoever that 19 would just sit back and happily pay over hundreds of thousands of dollars per album that they would never see back just because RCA (or another label) thought they found a viable, marketable artist in a genre that doesn’t sell much.

Maybe the crux of the matter is that those initial idol contracts we have seen are just that, initial. Maybe the contracts are regulaly renegotiated after the first album in order to reach terms that can ensure the label a reasonable chance of making money on upcoming efforts. If that is the case, then it does make a lot more sense for the label to look at the idol in relation to their specific genre and judge a success based on that. But the bottom line has to be an evaluation from the labels side “can he/she make us money?” If the answer is “no” or “not likely” then why on earth would they keep investing?

And no, we don’t know how much the labels invest in the idols. I would tend to think that it varies depending on how marketable the idol in question is or is seen to be. Because, yes, I do think that the labels look at marketability and viability when deciding how much or even if to invest. But they must also look at the bottom line, and if the bottom line is that the money (including the advance, promo, etc) they put in is greater than the money they get out, then the investment just doesn’t make sense.

Actually, thinking all of this through I’m leaning towards thinking that the contracts do get renegotiated quite quickly, especially for idols whose natural home is in genres that don’t tend to see amazing sales.
It’s quite simple really; if the idol doesn’t agree to renegotiate, the label can just choose to not pick up the option and the idol then stands without a label. At least in my head it makes sense.

I agree with you JoKo54. 

I thought she would at least get another album, but she will do fine.  I think her own talent will carry her further, she has a lot to offer and she seems smart enough to be able to carve out a niche of her own in the business.