Hi Fi CEO Says Adam Lambert Stands to Make “A Ton of Money” from Recordings, There’s Enough Material for a Second Album

I can’t stand this Hecker guy, he’s the one who stands to ‘make a lot of money’ by USING Adam’s name!!!! This drives me nutty and I wish it would go away.

Wow, you are really on top of this story, mj! I was just requesting in the previous thread that you translate what all this actually means because somebody is lying bigtime here, and if it’s this Hecker guy, he’s sticking his neck out really far. This little p.r. war is starting to get ugly.

He said Lambert attended a post-production session last month, as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“American Idolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  reached its climax, and that the singer was à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“blown awayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  by what he heard.

Has Adam ever denied that meeting?

I just stated in the other thread, but I think we the fans are more concerned about this then Adam and 19E. A lesson should be taken from them and not be so concerned until they state otherwise. 19E has not acknowledged this at all and the fans backlash is generating publicity for the label.

Sounds like someone’s upset about all the negative comments on hi-fi from the itunes reviews.

WTF? That guy is really getting on my nerves, and I had a feeling that they were probably going to try pulling off another album (full of crappy demos). I don’t think he realized the power of Adam’s fans, that they are not willing to shell out money for this.

I really believe that Hifi is twisting a lot of the story up because if Adam truly had co-ownership of the song, he would not have allowed it to be released, especially since he is not signed to RCA. He must think we’re idiots.

Oh, and I also believe that they are lying about Adam meeting up with them also. It’s good that Adam and 19/RCA does not comment because that’s probably what they want to bring in more controversy/story.

I thought this was going to go away quickly. UGH.

at this rate, adam is going to have enough content for an E! True Hollywood Story or Vh1 Behind the Music before his “first” album is even out. good god.

i can’t keep track of this anymore. or how i feel about it. im hot, im cold. im yes, im no. im in, im out. im up, im down. this freakin adamcoaster is getting out of hand!

I stated this in the other thread. Monte could probably clear some of this stuff up since he co-wrote most of the songs. I haven’t checked yet in Monte’s music myspace to see if there is any info on there. I rarely use my myspace account and I always forget my password. So I have to reset before I can subscribe to his blog.

ETA: if there are some kick ass songs on there from Citizen Vein, this would be good for Monte and I don’t think Adam wouldn’t begrudge Monte more fame. It all depends on the material.

Man, Adam’s involvement keeps growing. From 8 songs to 9, from listening to them to a post-production session. From co-writing songs to copyright royalties.

So I wonder if we will actually get Adam demos (like I Got This, Pop Goes the Camera) or Adam “demos” (generic AC tune with Adam as a session singer) next.

Adam didn’t have to say whether he attended that meeting or not, or what’s the real purpose he attended that. if it is right before the finale, actually I think Adam knew better than us that he’d get record contract from 19e no matter he win or not. why he would want to sign a smaller company? It just doesn’t make sense. but anyway, when Hi-Fi decided to release those demos rather than real album made for Adam, they should have thought about possible boycott from fans.

It’s really interesting to see those.

I don’t think Adam has denied the meeting. I think he has said the music does not represent who he is now but every artist will say their first album does not represent who they are by the time they record their 5th. It doesn’t mean they don’t want you to buy their first or that they don’t want the first to be heard.

If they have better songs, why lead off with ‘Want’

seriously, Calliope. im betting that the next press release has him selecting the cover picture because they heard some of us were complaining about that.

“adam’s signature facial hair is the soul patch (or landing strip, TM truthiness). we have been supporting his facial hair decisions for the last 3 years and couldn’t pass up the chance to use this amazing picture. we have adam’s best style interests at heart and think fans will just love the soul patch. in fact, we think his facial hair decisions are so great, we have a SECOND album coming out displaying his fu-manchu”

I’M convinced these HIFI people are slimy. They couldn’t give a rats ass about Adam otherwise they would have collaborated with 19 and Adam himself before releasing this demo. They are bad. :furious_tb: :furious_tb:

No one’s going to be making “a ton of money” because no one wants to buy this crap. STFU, Hecker.

If they have better songs, why lead off with à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Wantà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢

It sounds like to me neither Adam or Monte had anything to do with writing “WANT” so maybe this was the easiest one to release first. Maybe there are still negotiations going on?

The way I see it, Hecker wants people to believe Adam will make lots of money off of this so they will go out and buy it when in essence it won’t be Adam making all the money but Hecker making all the money.

See I’m confused because the stuff Adam worked on with Monte Pittman is NOTHING like the sappy dreck that is “Want”. The Citizen Vein stuff is hard rock and the other demos (i.e. “Pop Goes The Camera”, “Kiss and Tell”, “I Got This”, “Glamorize”) is really edgy dance pop/rock.

It’s possible this could be a similar situation like Constantine and his old band. He signed over the rights to their music and they released an album during Season 4. Maybe Adam signed over the music rights to Monte Pittman before he made the semi-finals and thus giving Monte Pittman the rights to sell the songs.

I just wish someone would be straight up about this. Even Heckler is talking in vague circles.

I was hoping that this will blow over very quickly but it seems like this news have made its way to Google Headlines. Never a day without drama when it comes to Adam Lambert. I just hope this won’t affect Adam’s career in any way. I am personally not buying the HIFI album. I am just anticipating Adam’s RCA album which he is currently recording right now. I am shocked to hear that HIFI is going to release a second album full of DEMOs. I don’t know what to say to that.

They won’t release it if no one buys the first. But are we sure they don’t have Adam’s ok on this?

I also wonder if “WANT” will even be on the album. Does it state anywhere that “WANT” is the first single off of the album? I’m sorry if this was discussed before and I just don’t recall. Maybe the album will be more hard rock?

Why would Adam have signed over the music rights to CV stuff? He was the lead singer and he had to know it would be worth something?

I know Adam doesn’t want to be identified with this Hi-Fi recording. But you know what, as a fan, I also would like to hear what’s in it. It doesn’t mean I am betraying Adam though. It’s my love for his voice that wants me to hear more while waiting for the RCA album. I don’t think this will hurt him either because as he has stated this is a pre-idol recording and got the message accross. When the RCA album comes out – this is will highlight his transformation…from a mere “voice lender” to a “vocal masterclass”.

It is totally possible that Adam was there for a meeting trying to get this resolved legally or settled and now Hifi is saying it was a meeting to give his blessing to the release. They will try to twist anything around to their benefit.

They may also now be changing their tune and giving him some money to try to head off any criticism.

I still think Heckler’s giving off a very foul smell.

On the win side: Adam with RedOne, and Madonna as mentor? plus acting cameos? yeah, good stuff

Sounds like someoneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s upset about all the negative comments on hi-fi from the itunes reviews.

Hi Fi sounds desperate. entertainment Outlets are including Adam’s statement and focusing on his album that comes out in the fall with 19. And I bet this song is getting hardly any radio play. The more Hecker talks, the worse he’ll look. He should just release whatever and see who buys it. Without Adam’s participation, the image around this situation isn’t going to change.

Legally, Adam could not work on any projects once he started top 12. He did sever relationships with other people he did work with. I think it’s a shady line if he went to a post production meeting. I have no problem with Adam having done the work (duh, he’s been trying to make it), and thus I have no problem with them releasing the work. It’s all a business. I guess it’s ethical if they told Adam they were going to release the material and he went over there to hear what they were going to put out. (I would want to know) He could have tried to get them to bury it. As long as he didn’t “work” on the album, or give input then I think he was “legal”. He didn’t deny the meeting, so I think it went down. I think he was told they were going to sell it, and he of course wanted to hear it first. That’s all.

Why Adam fans are getting so bent out of shape about this I don’t get. If someone did work for your recording company, you paid for it legally, and it was yours and suddenly there was a market for it, then you’d try to recoup your investment. They gave Adam some chances early on and gave Adam work. I don’t think Adam is pleased with it, but he very well may have done the same thing. I hope the music does somewhat well and if people like it, they buy it. What happened to liking anything Adam does. He should have some fans that like his voice singing anything.

I posted about this in the other Adam thread, so I’ll be short (sure! Ok I’ll try.)

Heckler is both responding to all the crap on the web, but he’s milking his free promotion vehicle — media stories. And what drives that most and keeps it buzzing? Controversy. So he’s dribbling all these details out bit by bit to stay in the light….

Whatever. My problem now? If Citizen Vain songs are released, I’m going to want to buy them. We’ll see. And, then, as someone said upthread, maybe the benefit to Pittman — and keeping Adam in the public eye, ear, and mind too — is worth the early release to Adam/19/RCA.

Interesting and irritating stuff, I tell ya!

Go Adam!!!

I am so confused about this situation that I don’t even know what to think anymore. Want is sort of Hi-Fi’s No Boundaries (more vocals, fewer lyrics, still crappy production values). I don’t mind the Adam look–it’s from a few years ago, and it looks better than Adam in the first couple of Idol studio recordings (ugh)–but I do wonder about the music. If What is the *best* single, what is the worst one?!

That said…I am more excited about the E News interview!!! Wow, that album is going to kick serious butt. If *I* were 19/RCA and if it was possible, I would try to get a single out in conjunction with the tour (there must be at least ONE track they could have ready). They can use this to say, THIS is a taste of what you’ll get from American Idol Finalist Adam Lambert’s forthcoming album. And it will have the RedOne sound, and it will put Hi-Fi’s crappy album to shame.

I’m going back to the other thread. It makes me happier. But God, Adam is in the news EVERY SINGLE DAY. Has this ever happened to any other finalist? I don’t remember this kind of media attention for Cook/Archie or Jordin/Blake (I didn’t really follow Kat/Taylor much, or the others before that).

What I think HI-FI should do is release a Citizen Vein album and promote Adam as the lead singer. Then it will be clear that this was created during his time with the band and has nothing to do with his solo career. I think that could be a win win situation for Adam, Monte and Hi-Fi. I would give Citizen Vein and Monte exposure because Adam fans would buy it, and it would give Adam hard rock cred, which would balance out the more pop album coming out.

I’m shooting for the “glass is half full” view.

ETA=throw in the schmaltzy single “WANT” and all of Adam’s new music will cover many different demographics.

As vocal and open as Adam has been in talking about his life and career, good, bad, controversial, etc… there’s got to be a reason he’s keeping his statement as short and sweet as he did. I would bet that 19/RCA had a hand in his first and only statement regarding this matter and I would imagine they are controlling all communication about it now. There could be things going on between RCA and Hi-Fi that we know nothing about and probably won’t know anything about. I would imagine that Hecker thought the single would sell, giving him some leverage in any dealings with 19. I don’t think he counted on as damaging to his company’s reputation the media coverage and fan backlash would be. Now, he seems to be trying to directly take the fan’s comments on why they won’t buy the single and combat all of those with this press release. If all of this was true, why didn’t he say it in the first place? He sounds quite desperate in my opinion.

The Monte Pittman stuff sounds like it could be Citizen Vein stuff, but a ton of that is on the internet already and been ripped all over the place. Why would anyone buy it now? More than likely, Wilshire owned those recordings since Monte Pittman is contracted with them, which Adam probably did co-write and those are the 8/9 (whatever story he’s telling today) of the 24 he has.

This guy stinks of sleaze and I think he desperately miscalculated. Hi-Fi probably does own all the rights to the songs and can do with them what they please, but if they had come out initially with the hook that these were Adam’s pre-idol performances and demos and packaged them as a treat for fans who were anxiously awaiting his major label debut, they more than likely would have sold a lot more records. His initial statement was a mistake.

“It doesn’t surprise us, but it doesn’t make us feel good,” Hi Fi Chairman and CEO John Hecker told Reuters on Tuesday. “For some reason it’s scaring Goliath, and I don’t know why.”

This is an interesting statement from Heckler to me. They shouldn’t be surprised. lol Anyways, I will be surprised if we get another statement from 19/Adam.

Heckler is both responding to all the crap on the web, but heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s milking his free promotion vehicle à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  media stories. And what drives that most and keeps it buzzing? Controversy. So heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s dribbling all these details out bit by bit to stay in the lightà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦.

Which is why its smart for Adam and 19 to keep their mouths shut. They made their statement and now they should let it go. Its a one sided fight now. They don’t want to end up like Perez and Will.i.am where its back and forth. This won’t make the tv entertainment channels, although it is on the Internet. you are correct, Heckler isn’t getting what he wants.

As I said before, if Hi-Fi/Wilshire are lying, they sure are doing it an awful lot. Meanwhile, fans AUTOMATICALLY believe these people are lying even though Adam has never yet denied the truth of their statements.

He could set this to rest easily. If these labels are making all these “false statements” that should warrant at least a denunciation through the media if not a lawsuit. Yet, we hear nothing but crickets from the Lambert camp and 19/RCA.

My guess is that the basic substance of what Hi-Fi/Wilshire are saying is true. Adam doesn’t own the rights to the material, so the catalogue is not covered under his contract with 19, but he WILL recieve royalties as a songwriter. And 19 is probabaly pissed as hell that that they legally aren’t entitled to any of the money from this project.

Adam just seems to move from one contraversy to another .. and here’s us thinking that once the whole sexuality thing got out the way then we could concentate on the music ….. I guess this is about music but not the music we’re interested in.

I wonder if in a few years time when Adam’s releasing his second and third official albums if this Heckler guy will still be rummaging around and digging up more old Adam demos …lol

HiFi had absolutely nothing to do with the recording of this album. They BOUGHT the session songs from Wilshire (who seems to be unavailable for comment. Also, singers under contract to a recording studio (Adam with RCA) probably don’t see much money from an initial album since the profits need to go back into the company to offset the costs associated with the production and the marketing of said product. That is why an Artist will bust their butt to do all the radio and tv shows and AOL sessions and anything else they can do to market the song.

Besides, Hecker can say anything he wants because he is acting on the word of Wilshire. I am sure if a meeting took place it was Wilshire trying to sell some of the work back to 19 for their future use and was probably told “no thanks”.

Now everything I have written is pure speculation but I have been trying to do a lot of research on the subject and these are my best conclusions. Bottom line for me is, until Adam says to please support him and purchase this stuff I won’t do it. Here is a quote on some of my research.

The majority of session singers are self-employed. Each job pays a seperate fee that is negotiated between you and the employer, who pays the session musicians for their time regardless of wether the track is released or used by the client who commissioned it from the studio. This is usually a one off fee even in the case of tracks you record that subsequently become popular, unless a repeat fee or percentage agreement has been previously agreed between you.

Also, I really think Adam’s fans have been pretty respectful through this process. They are leaving fairly intelligent comments on websites that are mostly about the fact that they are respecting Adam’s wishes.

And the plot thickens….

Hecker is being much more specfic in this interview. There is no way he would put out false information and leave himself open to litigation. The rights to release it may be contractually sound but if he started releasing false statements he could screw himself and end up with a cease and desist order, restraining order etc. and tie up the whole release.

It appears, so far, that Adam probably knew this was coming. I posted myself to death in another thread today, but again, I feel like Adam benefits from any press and it can’t hurt him if fans buy his stuff, old or not. In fact, like I have been saying ad nauseum, I hate to see anything with his picture on it FLOP.

Here is a quantum leap: Picasso didn’t like a lot of his early stuff either… lol sorry..

My understanding from others is that if he went to the meeting, listened,and said he liked it this would not be a breach of contract with Idol

maybe hi fi is mad that 19 isn’t trying to buy them out. Without Adam’s help with promotion and advertising, all they have to get the word out about this album are these controversial statements.

Hecker is being much more specfic in this interview. There is no way he would put out false information and leave himself open to litigation.

I thought he reinerated the same information, except now we know Adam should get some money for these sales. Citizen Vein was Adam’s band wasn’t it? If Adam owns part of the songs, then he must be ok with them coming out…. I dunno….. Anyways, I still say its a non-controversy. Annoying and unfortunate, but oh well. Life must go on.

Heckler has been talking in vague, shady, misleading tones from DAY ONE. He’s done nothing but shoot himself in the foot over and over again.

Now if it turns out he’s releasing Adam’s “Citizen Vein” stuff and all those other demos that are on YouTube, then WHY on earth could he not say that UP FRONT? I don’t think any Adam fans would be ticked off about that.

His initial press releases fronted like “Want” was Adam’s “official” first single from his”official” first major studio release – which it totally was NOT. He purposely left out the fact that they were super old pre-idol recordings. And I feel like that he did that on purpose to get as much hype and buzz as possible.

Then when the truth came out that it was all old stuff, the fans felt played. I don’t see how he thinks it’s going to win people over to his side and make them want to buy the stuff.

noctom seizure and DallasGlambert (again) – I agree with your analysis.

So, if all we’ve heard from Adam is that it’s not like his current music; we’ve heard absolutely nothing from 19; Adam might have had a meeting with them and knew about their releasing this stuff; AND Adam will make royalties on it all……………. is there any reason for the call to arms “don’t buy this stuff if you love Adam” what true fans should be doing? Especially without any direction from Adam himself.

And, anyone else wondering why the usually articulate Adam suddenly is saying y’all and nuffin? Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

They’ve put out one song and it seems clear to me that Adam didn’t write Want. I’ll wait and see as to anything else they have.

If they have better songs, why lead off with à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Wantà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢

Seriously. Adam sounds amazing, but the song is so so. That doesn’t bode well for the rest of the album.

What happened to liking anything Adam does. He should have some fans that like his voice singing anything.

I think this is missing the point. I do love Adam’s voice, but releasing rough demos is way beneath what he is capable of. It’s insulting.

cay Jun 23rd, 2009 at 10:33 pm

Legally, Adam could not work on any projects once he started top 12. He did sever relationships with other people he did work with. I think ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a shady line if he went to a post production meeting. I have no problem with Adam having done the work (duh, heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s been trying to make it), and thus I have no problem with them releasing the work. Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s all a business. I guess ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s ethical if they told Adam they were going to release the material and he went over there to hear what they were going to put out. (I would want to know) He could have tried to get them to bury it. As long as he didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“workà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  on the album, or give input then I think he was à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“legalà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ . He didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t deny the meeting, so I think it went down. I think he was told they were going to sell it, and he of course wanted to hear it first. Thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s all.

Why Adam fans are getting so bent out of shape about this I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t get. If someone did work for your recording company, you paid for it legally, and it was yours and suddenly there was a market for it, then youà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢d try to recoup your investment. They gave Adam some chances early on and gave Adam work. I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t think Adam is pleased with it, but he very well may have done the same thing. I hope the music does somewhat well and if people like it, they buy it. What happened to liking anything Adam does. He should have some fans that like his voice singing anything.

Adam may have gone to hear what they had because he was stunned as he did not know what they could possibly have but he did NOT record anything FOR HiFi, all the recordings came from Wilshire Records where Adam did record. HiFi bought everything they could from Wilshire Records. He owes HiFi nothing as they never did anything for him.

I just looked at itunes – there’s over 170 messages condemning Wilshire/Hi-Fi, no wonder this guy is talking money.

But even with the negative comments about the label, the song is selling – it’s moving up a few notches in Adam’s popularity column.

I think I liked the AI experience a lot better before I knew about all these blogs. LOL, I love your site MJ, but geeeeeeeeeeeeeeezus, ignorance was bliss. I just saw some things on tv once in a while, watched youtube for some videos if they were there and waited for the CD to drop. I didn’t know or appreciate how happy I was then.

There’s are some co-workers of mine who, like me, are HUGE Adam fans. They’ve bought all his AI stuff from itunes. I asked them today what they thought about the new song (they had heard vaguely about it, didn’t think it was a big deal) and what Hi-Fi was doing (said…aww, poor Adam if he doesn’t get any money) and merrily went on their way. Meanwhile, I was angsting(sp) about it and reading MJ’s blog during breaks and typing my little comments. I’m thinking I may be better off joining them on their merry little way.

PS: They did know about RedOne and the E Interview though, don’t ask me how.

maybe hi fi is mad that 19 isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t trying to buy them out. Without Adamà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s help with promotion and advertising, all they have to get the word out about this album are these controversial statements.

That’s interesting. You might be right!

And, anyone else wondering why the usually articulate Adam suddenly is saying yà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢all and nuffin? Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The only “hmmmmmmmmm”ing I’m doing is towards hifi. Adam probably has legal reasons why he can’t directly denounce the song/album.

There is no way he would put out false information and leave himself open to litigation.

Sure he could. He has put out some contradictory information already. I am pretty sure he owns the rights to these recordings since Adam, as a session singer (if we are going by Want since I have no clue what HiFi is sitting on), is not entitled to any say on what happens with it. If Hecker is lying, RCA would have to figure out if it is worth it to try and sue him for that, which would be costly.

My guess is that they are angling for some sort of pay-out and/or trying to still cash in on Adam. If it’s a bunch of useless session demos, I can see why RCA would not even want to bother. Maybe Adam will want to release another statement, but I can see why they would be silent and not want to play “statement battle” with Hecker. Hecker seems to be using these statements as advertisement which strangely seem to keep addressing fan complaints.

Oh well. Still not buying it. Even with an active fan boycott, it got to 47 on the Pop 100 Chart on iTunes. That’s not crazy-high, but still kind of funny.

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“It doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t surprise us, but it doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t make us feel good,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  Hi Fi Chairman and CEO John Hecker told Reuters on Tuesday. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“For some reason ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s scaring Goliath, and I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t know why.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

This is an interesting statement from Heckler to me. They shouldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t be surprised. lol Anyways, I will be surprised if we get another statement from 19/Adam.

UniqueV28 – when i read this i thought it was interesting too. because i havent gotten the impression that “goliath” is scared. i think they (and adam) are just distancing themselves from the sound and ignoring it otherwise.

to me, i took it as Heckler wanting to make it sound like this album is so great the big dogs are worried about it stealing adam’s thunder. to make it look like the album is more significant than (in reality) it probably is.

*****I think I liked the AI experience a lot better before I knew about all these blogs.

Me too! I’m not getting this involved ever again.

And, anyone else wondering why the usually articulate Adam suddenly is saying yà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢all and nuffin? Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I’m thinking it’s Kris’s influence :clap_tb:

And, anyone else wondering why the usually articulate Adam suddenly is saying yà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢all and nuffin? Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

If Monte can benefit from this, Adam may not want to say much more. Adam could be walking a PR tight rope. He needs to make sure 19 and RCA know that he is only going to promote the album he puts out with them. But, Adam also may not want to rail against the upcoming pre-idol album for Monte’s sake. Monte may have signed over his rights to the songs as well and may have no control over this. From what I can see on Monte’s Facebook, he has no record contract. I think if Monte’s name is now connected to this pre-idol album, he will want it to succeed.

Also throw in the fact that Monte is Madonna’s guitar player, Adam is a huge fan of Madonna, well, the situation becomes more delicate.

iluvai Jun 23rd, 2009 at 10:56 pm

And, anyone else wondering why the usually articulate Adam suddenly is saying yà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢all and nuffin? Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The only à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“hmmmmmmmmmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ing Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m doing is towards hifi. Adam probably has legal reasons why he canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t directly denounce the song/album.

Adam made a statement and the legal department probably said not to say anything else or he could get into a legal snafu. Adam could have signed over his rights to The Citizen Vein songs to Monte when he got on Idol. Monte could have been promised a lot of money would come his way if he let Wilshire sell the lot to HiFi. None of this is against AI’s mandates for what a contestant can or can’t do.

*****I think I liked the AI experience a lot better before I knew about all these blogs.

Me too! Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m not getting this involved ever again.

I feel the same way. I was afraid to admit it because I didin’t want MJ to say this might not be the blog for me. But I do LOVE this blog. However some of this Adam stuff is crazy making.

The reason that no one from Adam’s camp should say anything is because then it will create a back and forth and drum up more publicity, which is what Hifi wants- free publicity. If they ignore it, this will die down.

Good things will come to those who wait- my own fortune cookie. haha

The only dilemma I see here is for the fans—to buy or not to buy. Otherwise I don’t think any of this matters much at all.

also, isn’t there some research out there that says the more random details you throw into a story the more likely it is you are lying? hehe.

my adam blinders are snapped on tight. he is faultless and only speaks the truth.
:cool1_tb:

I think I liked the AI experience a lot better before I knew about all these blogs.

Me too! Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m not getting this involved ever again.

I’m laughing at the “newbies”. This is just mild stuff…You still have to live through the tour, and radio interviews, and record releases, and winter concerts and who gets invited to perform at what.

I must admit, though, that HiFigate has good legs. We’ve been commenting on it for a few days now. But just think….The tour starts in less than 2 weeks…and then we get to comment on all the youtube videos and who is stealing whose thunder. Button down the hatches…the fun is only beginning.

I really don’t think that Adam is just looking out for Monte here. That almost seems laughable to me. Adam is looking out for Adam, and has been all along. (and there is nothing wrong with that). And he is doing whatever 19/RCA is telling him to do. I assume he legally can’t do anything and the 19/RCA strategy is to ignore it and hope it flops/goes away.

it gets worse?! i dont know if i can handle much more. at least there is the occasional humor break among the drama.

thank goodness us newbies have you veterans to bring in some perspective and talk us off the proverbial ledge. and of course MJ who probably has lots of fun lawn chair moments each year when a new crop of newbies shows up to freak out about every little twist and turn.

It’s okay, you can admit it, iluvai. :smoke_tb:

I’m still going to visit the site daily to get updates on possible tv appearances/etc. and now that I know MJ gets some sort of benefit(???) (I still don’t get how) will continue to link to itunes purchases of the AI idols I want from her site. I just can’t continue to get sucked into the angst and go into defensive mode for my favorite idol EVAH anymore, my “delicate constitution” :innocent1_tb: can’t handle it..LOL.

Wait….DID YOU SAY TOUR VIDEOS AND WINTER CONCERTS AND RADIO INTERVIEWS????

I may have to rethink my position and toughen the hell up!!! This might be me by next year…. :guns_tb:

The reason that no one from Adamà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s camp should say anything is because then it will create a back and forth and drum up more publicity, which is what Hifi wants- free publicity. If they ignore it, this will die down.

Exactly!!! You got it AC! As the saying goes, less is more.

I’m curious to see tomorrow who else carries this new interview. So far, I only see it on this blog site. I don’t think entertainment news sites and blogs are going to present it different just because Adam may gain some money from this. If Adam was enthusiastic about it and promoting it, it may be different, but he’s not. He picked to go to 19 so that is how it should be. This should be a learning lesson to not sell your rights away. lol Remember this aspiring artists!!!

I really donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t think that Adam is just looking out for Monte here. That almost seems laughable to me. Adam is looking out for Adam, and has been all along. (and there is nothing wrong with that). And he is doing whatever 19/RCA is telling him to do. I assume he legally canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t do anything and the 19/RCA strategy is to ignore it and hope it flops/goes away

I agree that Adam is looking after his best interest, but I wouldn’t say it is laughable that he would also try to look after his friend’s interest as well. If the pre-idol album is good (with the Citizen Vein stuff) then that is good for Adam. I think the situation is more complicated then it may appear. It really just depends on the quality of the album. If Monte is involved, then I can’t imagine that the rest of the tracks will sound anything like “WANT.” But we really don’t know the truth so it is a “wait and see” scenario.

*****Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m laughing at the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“newbiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ . This is just mild stuffà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦You still have to live through the tour, and radio interviews, and record releases, and winter concerts and who gets invited to perform at what.

*****I must admit, though, that HiFigate has good legs. Weà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve been commenting on it for a few days now. But just thinkà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦.The tour starts in less than 2 weeksà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦and then we get to comment on all the youtube videos and who is stealing whose thunder. Button down the hatchesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦the fun is only beginning.

Oh my. Oh please let KRADISON have a good tour. And Adam’s first REAL release be off the chain. I want to see his solo tour.

Button down the hatchesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦the fun is only beginning.

haha. so true Tess. So true.

“If they have better songs, why lead off with à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Want….à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢”

You don’t. If you have the songs and can put the word “Madonna” in a press release you do.

This is not a name you, oops, forgot to mention the first time. Especially since Adam says her name every other interview.

Something changed. If they have Citizen Vein rock material, which is all over the internet, they would have been leading with the rock album. Not the demos. And said “Madonna” and “Adam Lambert and Madonna’s guitarist” and something like hard-driving, studio remastered versions of those rock songs you love. As often as possible.

We are now Inside Baseball. We can speculate if Adam gave his friends the rights as a going away present. We can speculate if some generous talks about letting his dear friends in Citizen Vein redo the songs to release next year fell apart and caused some being “blown away” in the playback room. We can wonder if this HiFi guy is just delusional and spiteful. A possibility already posted is this is a buy-out ploy, because the fan boycott left HiFi without leverage, so now they’re threatening what they held back before. The only thing we can know for sure is Monte Pitman’s phone is ringing as reporters start fact-checking.

None of it matters. The HiFi big moment got replaced by the fan control. And how the internet has changed everything. The deep fanbase protection action is permanently attached to this story. The Entertainment shows and sites won’t report on it without it. It’ll just add even more buzz.

Whatever is the next release, if there is one, from HiFi, is whatever they do. If it’s Citizen Vein, then that’ll have a backstory attached to it too. Especially with all the switch-up and newly discovered facts in this new release. It doesn’t matter.

If David A’s AI debut single was out August 1 last year–as was very good news mentioned in other thread–then Adam’s can be too. And/or the Bowie Medley videos will be all over the internet. There will be some brand enhancing counter programming. More interviews with RedOne, other producers, other writers. There has to be new Adam material. If Citizen Vein rock album gets slated for July, there will be new Adam stuff.

It’ll all be fine. Get you popcorn out, and don’t fret.

“There is no way he would put out false information and leave himself open to litigation.”

“Sure he could. He has put out some contradictory information already. I am pretty sure he owns the rights to these recordings since Adam, as a session singer (if we are going by Want since I have no clue what HiFi is sitting on), is not entitled to any say on what happens with it. If Hecker is lying, RCA would have to figure out if it is worth it to try and sue him for that, which would be costly.”

Believe me, RCA is loaded up with enough attorneys to spit out a libel/fraud/defamation suit with a restraining order in two minutes. Hecker has enough named entertainers on his label not to be cautious about releasing false information. What he MAY rely on is that RCA doesn’t give a crap and will not give him the opportunity to get the headlines that would be generated by a lawsuit. But…if RCA didn’t want anything to supercede Adam’s big debut, then I bet they would use their best efforts to tie them up in litigation until the 19/RCA debut…IF given the chance. Right now, they have nothing if the contracts are all tight.

LOL CindyM. maybe there should be some sort of AI initiation to toughen us up. i plan on sticking around for all the tour and concert goodies too! maybe i’ll go pick some fights with strangers to butch it up a bit.

This is also my first season on the blogs but I am happy to be here. Just think about how dull my life would be without all the Adam drama! lol.
This this just keeps getting better and better huh? I hope this is true and Adam stands to make something off this as he should. As things stand now, if the album is good I will probably buy it. I agree that Adam and 19 not getting a back and forth publicity war is good. If they can’t legally do anything about this then the best way to deal with it is to let it run it’s course. I doubt from what we’ve seen of Adam that he did anything that would have put his contract with 19/RCA in jepordy. He has worked to long and hard to get this shot.
On a happy note, the tweet from Adam to the fans was awesome to get!

I think the Hi-fi thing only has good legs with us idol-holics on the internet, which is actually a really small percentage of the real world. My prediction is that whoever bought this single has already and it’s going to slide off the charts since no one else is really going to be looking out for it, especially since there is no airplay. So when his “single” fades, Hi-fi will release his “album” and talk about how the whole album is now co-written by Adam, it’ll be another story for a day or 2 before it goes away again. =)

to me, i took it as Heckler wanting to make it sound like this album is so great the big dogs are worried about it stealing adamà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s thunder.

Which is completely contradictory to his first statement about having Adam’s best interests at heart and being all concerned with protecting his brand. Now he’s bragging about the (extremely remote) possibility that this demo collection is going to hurt Adam’s RCA/19 release. What a tool. :rolleyes_tb:

Newbie here!! lol All you AI and mj veterans are truley educating me.
AI concert for me is late August. Everyone here will keep me linked to tour info before then. All I can say is “BRING ON THE OUTFITS FOR THE TOUR ADAM” (something with a zipper would be excellent!!!)

I am looking forward to an early first single release that will be sick. We get the tour, interviews, the debut album, Glee (and other cameos?), and the Adam Lambert Experience. Happy. happy, joy, joy. This Hi-Fi situation is going away soon. Like AC, I am not worried.

None of it matters. The HiFi big moment got replaced by the fan control. And how the internet has changed everything. The deep fanbase protection action is permanently attached to this story. The Entertainment shows and sites wonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t report on it without it. Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll just add even more buzz.

I completely agree with this!

OK, Rolling Stone has updated their article on the subject that I am so invested in….lol

Here is a comment from a gal from NY:

C*****NYC | 6/23/2009, 10:41 pm EST

so we all agree this is a tough call. i originally disliked the cheesy song, but after several listens and weeks of lambert withdrawl i now find that i want to listen . . . so moved it on to my desktop on sunday. my husband, who for many years was in the music biz in LA (and before that with RS) is now in Cannes at yet another entertainment biz convention. i wanted to ask him about the legalities/issues surrounding this kind of thing so mentioned the single last night. today he told me he was sitting outside at the Carleton (a very popular location) and heard an unmistakable lambert song wafting from someone elseà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s computer. so he downloaded it from EW and a bunch of entertainment types got to talking about it. bad/good news about this old/new single à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  they all liked it! other news, well opinion is doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t matter hm money adam might see from this particular release, it is still important for his career à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  particularly for those millions of people who did not watch idol/r not following him. it is THEIR first take on him and his appeal à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  like it or not. he is also prob bound contractually by both hifi and 19e/rca as to what he can and cannot say. ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s obvious à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  he has made only one official statement and thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s it. so now ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m wondering: since i am listening to it anyway, maybe i should support it by buying it. for me, btw, as ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m sure for every other adam fan, buying this will in NO way interfere with purchasing his REAL and sure to be totally awesome fall release.

It looks like itunes is deleting reviews for ‘Want’ there were about 170 before, now there is only 120.

It looks like itunes is deleting reviews for à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Wantà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ there were about 170 before, now there is only 120.

they’ve been deleting them all day.

My belief remains- HIFI are not representing Adam- they are using his name period.
Money is all they want- they don’t care about his all-important debut CD. SLIMY-

ew x1000; HIFI major bad news.

wow. the reviews on Itunes are something else. No wonder Adam tweeted those kind words to his fans. Its also no wonder that Hi Fi sounds so defensive.

For those of us obsessed with iTunes *raising hand*, Want is now up to #47 on the singles pop chart, just below Kris’s Heartless at #46 and *above* Glee’s Don’t Stop Believing at #48. Lady GaGa’s Paparazzi (I love this song) is at #45, which is rather ironic. (Oh, and Mad World is at #54.) I realize this is not the iTunes hot 100 chart, but I do think that it’s interesting that in all of one day Want has gone top 50 in less than one day. I think some fans are starting to feel that:

–It’s not a bad track (it’s not terrific, but you can hear his soaring voice)
–It’s a track (that is, something for Jonesing Glamberts to put on their iPods
–It won’t hurt Adam in the long run

It may not make the Top 100, but it is getting listens and downloads,. and I am not worried anymore, particularly because there is so much buzz around Adam’s forthcoming album and the Tour.

Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s okay, you can admit it, iluvai.

Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m still going to visit the site daily to get updates on possible tv appearances/etc. and now that I know MJ gets some sort of benefit(???) (I still donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t get how) will continue to link to itunes purchases of the AI idols I want from her site. I just canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t continue to get sucked into the angst and go into defensive mode for my favorite idol EVAH anymore, my à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“delicate constitutionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t handle it..LOL.

Thanks, you made me laugh. “delicate constitution” — I think I have that too. LOL.

As an Adam fan, these things bother me:

- over a period of several years, Wilshire paid Adam for session work to sing demos of other songs, and appears to have been involved in recording some demos of some Citizen Vein songs as well, but for whatever reason didn’t sign Adam/CV to a recording contract. To me this means they were aware of Adam’s talent for years and passed up on actually investing in him. So cashing in on him now when they didn’t have faith in him when they had their chance reeks of shameless opportunism.

- because these are unpolished demos, they were never meant for actual release. Wilshire never put the effort/resources into producing these songs properly, if “Want” is any indication – instead they invested in producing the song for another group and released it as “December.” Again, another sign that they didn’t have faith in Adam back then and didn’t want to commit to investing in him. Marketing these songs now as an “album” just emphasizes again that this is shameless opportunism.

- they chose as their “single” a song for which Adam appears to have had *no* creative input. So, unlike the CV songs, this song represents Adam minimally artistically. And unlike the CV songs, Adam probably won’t make any money off the “single” since he wasn’t involved in writing and was merely a voice for this particular demo.

And here’s Hi-Fi, which had no role at all in the production of the “work,” making all these public pronouncements because they’ve bought the rights to market these songs. Public pronouncements about how this will support Adam the artist blahblahblah when it so obviously isn’t because Wilshire had plenty of time before AI to support Adam as a recording artist if they wanted to.

Add on top of that that they aren’t up front at all that these are demos, that they never signed Adam to a recording contract, that they may own the rights to these demos but they were never intended for actual release, and this whole thing makes me resentful as an Adam fan. If they would at least be honest about what they are marketing, it would make this so much more palatable. Their carefully chosen, technically accurate statements are misleading to me. There is also no indication that RCA/”Goliath” is scared – if they were they would have invested in some legal maneuvering to delay this. Of course Adam’s statement doesn’t surprise or make Hecker feel good. Adam spoke the truth – “Want” and other similar early demos don’t reflect his music now. There’s nothing in that statement that speaks of fear. And if Hecker is “disappointed” that Adam didn’t come out promoting this “single” and “album” well … maybe they should have signed Adam when they had the chance.

It wouldn’t surprise me if when Adam made his statement, he wasn’t aware that the CV songs were going to be part of the “album.” If there are enough songs for two “albums”, then other than “Want” he may have had no idea what the album consists of – I don’t think there are enough CV songs to fill two “albums”, are there? Hi-Fi/Wilshire may have decided to put the CV songs on the first “album” to combat Adam’s statement and the criticisms of the fans. It seems to me that the “album” is only being released electronically anyways and there’s no release date announced yet so they have the freedom to change the composition at will at this point.

And yes, I’m sorry if all the quotes for “single” and “album” irritate but to me they are those in name only since I don’t believe the tracks were ever meant to be released commercially. Oh, and apologies for this ridiculously long comment, but I had to get this out of my system.

I think some fans are starting to feel that:

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not a bad track (ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not terrific, but you can hear his soaring voice)
à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a track (that is, something for Jonesing Glamberts to put on their iPods
à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’It wonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t hurt Adam in the long run

That might describe me. LOL.

Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll all be fine. Get you popcorn out, and donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t fret.

You’ve helped me feel a lot better, FifthHouseSun. With that, I’m taking a break for the rest of the evening…well, after I watch the E! News video video one more time.

Hmm.. maybe the deleted mine. I headed mine with Hifi is a fraud. hehe.. 19/rca doesn’t need to put out press releases since the fans are already doing it for them. haha.

I will continue to bitch about Hifi :devil_tb: only because it’s kinda fun to see all this negative publicity around them when they were probably expecting fans to be thankful and buy the album. Not! I doubt Adam’s single will come out as quick because he’s have a big hand in writing while Archie didn’t as much.

on a separate note, i was looking at the general top 100 and The Frame’s version of Falling Slowly is at 98 with The Fray’s version of Heartless at 99. hehe

My one big hope is that all this hoo-hah doesn’t lead to Adam and 19/RCA releasing any “new” material in some sort of panicked counterattack. Adam needs to make sure he doesn’t release any new music until it’s ready and he’s happy with it. A rushed out single likely wouldn’t represent him at his best.

I think RCA/19 are thinking about this very carefully/strategically and are working with Adam to get down a solid (hopefully terrific) track to release as his first single. This isn’t the first time they’ve had to do this. I would love this to be one of RedOne’s tracks.

We are up to 88 comments in about 90 minutes. Too bad nobody cares. LOL

I wouldn’t buy any song I didn’t like but it’s actually not all that great if the song is too much of a flop. Makes it seem like he doesn’t have a big audience interested in him.

And after a few well written iTunes comments about the situation and HiFi’s motives, I’m not sure what another 200 reviews saying the same things accomplish. Other than providing more evidence that he has fans that like to vent and are “protective.”

The reason that no one from Adamà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s camp should say anything is because then it will create a back and forth and drum up more publicity, which is what Hifi wants- free publicity. If they ignore it, this will die down.

Um, when that “free publicity” is attached to the words “injunction” or “cease and desist order”, that publicity is not worth a damn. The reason Adam’s people aren’t speaking out is because there is nothing they can say. Hi-Fi and Wilshire have secured all the rights to what they are doing.

However, if they are making false statements to the press about Adam having co-writing credits, as somebody else says, they expose themselves to a libel lawsuit. The reason we’re not hearing about one is because, very likely, the companies’ claims are true.

Now those who are waiting for Adam to offer his blessing to these recordings, just stop and think about it for a moment. He doesn’t want to promote this music because he maintains that it doesn’t represent him musically. And even if that weren’t the case, he CAN’T promote this album because he has to promote his forthcoming album.

Furthermore, the greedy bastards at 19 are probably furious that they won’t get a piece of the pie from “On With The Show” because of an unanticipated loophole in their infamous contract. They own the rights to Adam’s back catalogue, but since Adam doesn’t own the rights to this material, it doesn’t fall under their purview then.

Yet, at the same time, Hecker can authentically promote this as an Adam Lambert album because Adam provided all the vocals (and most likely co-wrote most of it). And while Adam, for reasons mentioned, can’t push the album, it’s not in his interest to condemn it either, since he stands to make some coin off of the royalty checks from whatever sales it does generate.

I have a feeling most of this will blow over by next week … as does everything even remotely controversial attached to Adam! There’s always something new (yay tour!)!

However, I’m still really pissed…contract, my ass. There’s no way this isn’t a cash-in. Hecker’s statements keep getting more desperate (read: trying to say what he thinks fans want to hear) and contradictory. BUT, to put things in perspective…

The single is selling only through word of mouth (fansites) to fans. It’s not being promoted (as far as I know) other than through these *magical* press releases that are getting picked up by the AP and Reuters and distributed. Therefore, anyone who knows about the song (at this point) realizes that it’s an old demo. The only way this continues is if Hecker releases MORE press releases. Jeebus.

Adam keeping quiet is probably not only the legally smart thing to do (lawyer here!), but also PR wise, his one pithy statement and continued talk about his RCA album is best. Don’t give this credence and keep reminding people that you’re working on your “real” album with hot producers.

Of course, all that said, I bet Adam cried when he heard there were two albums…poor guy! lol.

suebrody Jun 23rd, 2009 at 11:58 pm

“I think RCA/19 are thinking about this very carefully/strategically and are working with Adam to get down a solid (hopefully terrific) track to release as his first single. This isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t the first time theyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve had to do this. I would love this to be one of RedOneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s tracks.

We are up to 88 comments in about 90 minutes. Too bad nobody cares. LOL”

Adam said on the E! video tonight that RedOne works fast, I’ve heard this about RedOne also. So, perhaps his first “real” single will be one that RedOne produces.

I think Adam is happy that the song is charting and he twittered his thanks. Looks good for him that he does have fans that love him singing anything and the song sells without any promotion. He CAN’T promote it, or tell us to buy it, but it has to make him feel good to see people buying it. Nice that he thanked his fans. At least it gives him confidence that fans are still there.

It does sound better on itunes – another reason why some fans might be buying it.

Actually, based upon his interviews, I bet Adam’s ignoring all of this and focusing on the tour and recording his new album. This probably annoyed him for a minute and then he said “whatever” and moved on. Adam understands the importance of “branding” in this industry, but this is entirely a legal matter at this point and completely out of his control. I should just follow his lead, ignore it and move on as well.

Ruh roh.

I haven’t read all the comments, but I’ll say this – IF any of the songs that HiFi plan on releasing are Adam/Citizen Vein tracks, that will be good stuff. I’ve heard a few CV songs on youtube, and I like them! As someone upthread pointed out though, if that is the case, it is odd that they would release “Want” first and without so much as a whisper of Pittman (and through him the connection to Madonna).

Oh well. I’m not going to fret. It takes far too much energy. I agree with girlygirl – I just really really hope that Adam/19 don’t rush to put out his album in retaliation. Slow and steady wins the race, boys & girls!

Mandalay–There is nothing “inarticulate” about saying “y’all.” It happens to be a contraction of the words “you” and “all” originating in the American South. It has since spread like wildfire from sea to shining sea. And as you may or may not know, various other regions of the U.S. have had their own way of saying “you all” since the beginning of the Republic. For instance, in Pennsylvania, they say “youins.” In the Jersey area, they say “yous guys.”

Didn’t someone post that “Want” is actually selling? I just went on Itunes — that song isn’t in the Top 100…so it can’t be selling all that well…

Adam said in the E Interview that he is “keeping his eyes focused on the prize” which for him is the 19/RCA album and “ignoring all the other crap” which would be the Hi-Fi album.

What more do you need. I think that says it all!!!!

For instance, in Pennsylvania, they say à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“youins.

My in-laws (whom I love) say “youins”. I’ve never heard any one else use that term. It’s so funny. They’re from Ohio….

I think RCA/19 are thinking about this very carefully/strategically and are working with Adam to get down a solid (hopefully terrific) track to release as his first single. This isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t the first time theyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve had to do this. I would love this to be one of RedOneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s tracks.

We are up to 88 comments in about 90 minutes. Too bad nobody cares. LOL

People care. Especially Adam detractors. LOL.

I refuse to worry about this. I know that as long as Adam’s RCA album lives up to expectations that he will be just fine. More than fine in fat, god willing he’ll be a staaaar.
So I’m going to grab the pop corn, park myself on the sofa and enjoy the ride.

P.S. it’s a good thing I’m self-employed otherwise my boss would have fired me months ago for my Adam obsession LOL!! I really have to get some work done.

I could very well be reading too much into the tweet, but my first thought when i saw the word “nuttin” was a double-meaning for nothing and for going crazy – like, nuts, like nuttin? No? Anyone?

Adam said in the E Interview that he is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“keeping his eyes focused on the prizeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  which for him is the 19/RCA album and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“ignoring all the other crapà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  which would be the Hi-Fi album.

What more do you need. I think that says it all!!!!

Totally agree. Not to mention his message to his fans on Twitter.

This is a little off topic but I too am one of those ‘newbies’never really paid much attention to AI but my sister knew I would love Adam so she sent me to YouTube to watch his Ring of Fire and also to MJ’s site, well since then I too got sucked into the world of Adam. I ususally just read the topics/headlines. I can’t wait to go to an Adam Concert

Whether Adam gets money from it or not isn’t the main concern. David Cook made $2 millions last least, David A $1.something million. As long that the real RCA album sells well, Adam won’t be short of money in the future.

What is a concern is whether these HiFi releases can potentially damage Adam’s career. What if the public associate him with a sound that is not his? what impact would it have? If the crappy Want sold well, could it be an encouragement for 19 to go that route?
The other issue would be how much 19/RCA would pe*d off of be if the albums(s?) sold well.
This HIFI business could generate some publicity for Adam, but does Adam need it with a major label like RCA behind him? ..no
However there a risk that it could have a detrimental effect, so I would prefer it if it doesn’t chart and doesn’t get airplay.

“Didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t someone post that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Wantà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  is actually selling? I just went on Itunes à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  that song isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t in the Top 100à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦so it canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t be selling all that wellà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦”

- I think it’s they are looking at i-tunes pop chart where it is currently #49.

I wouldn’t say that it is doing well. Considering Adam’s profile, the fanbase alone would have already pushed it to the top of itunes, albeit for a short time, if they were supporting the release.

Looking at the positive side, what ever Adam releases after “Want” will sound like a freaking masterpiece in comparison.

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Hi Fi CEO Says Adam Lambert Stands to Make “A Ton of Money” from Recordings, There’s Enough Material for a Second Albumà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

Wow, this CEO is really going for the hard sell by using these kind of statements. Can’t think of a more desperate way to encourage fans to purchase this album than by insisting Adam will make a ton of money. Mmmm, I still don’t believe he’s being honest about all this.

What is wrong with Adam?? Why is he playing with us?? why doesn’t he come out with the truth once and for all?? Why did he open a twitter if not for these kind of issues?? It’s crazy and I hate HiFi and Hecker

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Hi Fi CEO Says Adam Lambert Stands to Make à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“A Ton of Moneyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  from Recordings, Thereà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Enough Material for a Second Albumà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

The release of every single available track would show how desperate they are. All good labels select album tracks carefully and and only release the best.

What is wrong with Adam?? Why is he playing with us?? why doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t he come out with the truth once and for all?? Why did he open a twitter if not for these kind of issues?? Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s crazy and I hate HiFi and Hecker

There is nothing “wrong” with Adam and he is not playing with us, he made a statement quickly about this, at this point I think he probably told us everything he could legally tell us, this is old music, it does not represent where he wants to go musically, at least about Want he was clear that he did not write the song. I don’t understand why people don’t take that as truth? HiFi probably owns the rights to the songs and he can’t stop them from being released (which also implies he does not have any rights to them), they may or may not know what else Hecker is planning to put on these “albums” as HiFi’s story seems to change every day. Adam is way too smart to get in a word battle with these slimeballs via Twitter that would only give them more press than they deserve. He has made it clear that he is not supporting this release so I seriously doubt he is getting much if any money from their release. There are people whose job it is to deal with the legal issues of this, hopefully they are doing their job and Adam is doing his, which is singing.

If Helker’s statement that Adam also co-owns the copyrights with Wilshire was true, how is it that Adam cannot stop them releasing the album? And if he could do it, for sure 19 would make him do it?

*****I think I liked the AI experience a lot better before I knew about all these blogs.

Me too! Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m not getting this involved ever again.

Yeah right, me too, lol……and you can come visit my oceanfront property in Vegas. :lol_tb:

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Hi Fi CEO Says Adam Lambert Stands to Make à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“A Ton of Moneyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  from Recordings, Thereà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Enough Material for a Second Albumà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

He never says that Adam will get money from them does he? I think this statement is carefully worded bullsh*t. There is definetely something hidden here, and a lot of thing that has come from Hi-Fi doesn’t make sense.

First they said Want was his new official single from his new album. That was obviously not true. It can clearly be heard that the recording is of demo quality.

Next they say Adam co-wrote a lot of the songs. After discussing it, we seem to agree on that it’s enough that Adam changed one note in the song and he could be credited with co-write, so this statement doesn’t mean much.

Also Want is very different in style from anything Adam has done, DURING and BEFORE idol, in my opinion. It just doesn’t make sense.

About having CV stuff one the cd, I think that’s unlikely because there is no way he wouldnt have released that first if so. And, as has been said before, market it with the link to madonna. To me, there is no way he wouldn’t have used that or released those song. All we have to do is listen to the rest of the songs on this “album” and we’ll know.

Who knows what stuff Monte has been doing in his career. Maybe he has put out songs he has written and maybe Adam has done sessional work on them. Maybe it was through Monte he landed this gig in the first place?

I don’t think this guy is technically lying, but he is stretching the truth really far. In my opinion he is being very manipulative, formulating things in a way that they will always be “true” in a sense, and pushing everyone to question their beliefs and I guess question Adam.

Again, we might never know the real truth, but too much of what these Hi-Fi guys have been doing is contradictory. Their statements don’t make sense.

I’m sure Hi-Fi is hoping to confuse at least some of Adam’s fans enough to get them to buy.

I’m reading the Knoll thread on the TWOP website and somebody mentioned that Adam’s situation can be compared to Christina Aguilera’s situation years ago. After doing a quick google search on what happened to Christina, I’m inclined to believe that Adam is in the same boat. That’s probably why 19E and RCA doesn’t seem to be concerned about stopping HiFi, because they probably know that HiFi somehow is legally entitled to release the record.

If Helkerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s statement that Adam also co-owns the copyrights with Wilshire was true, how is it that Adam cannot stop them releasing the album? And if he could do it, for sure 19 would make him do it?

This is just one of the things that doesn’t make sense. If we interpret the Hi-Fi statement as Adam co-owns copyrights then would that give him the power to stop them? Next question is of course if that is really what the Hi-Fi statement is saying, or if that’s just implied and not really said. I think its quite clear that Adam doesn’t own any right to this material (this being stated froma practical point of view since we would have seen some lawer action if that was true).

I should addd that I don’t think this is hurting Adam in any way, it will pass, but I find the behaviour and the statements from this company pretty weird.

Boy, I sure hope RCA doesn’t do something that Adam’s fans don’t agree with. I’m wondering if all of this “protectiveness” we feel towards Adam could backfire and make other labels shy away from working with him. Wonder how Adam ever got along up to this point without 50,000 mothers. :smile2_ee:

Adam latest tweet:
“just a quick shout-out to fans: ya’ll are the best! thank you for all ur positive energy and support no matter what. id be nuttin w/o you”
The latest fan campaign being the boycott of the single, I am reading this as a subtle way to say that he approves it and is thankful for the action.

Boy, I sure hope RCA doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t do something that Adamà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s fans donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t agree with. Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m wondering if all of this à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“protectivenessà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  we feel towards Adam could backfire and make other labels shy away from working with him. Wonder how Adam ever got along up to this point without 50,000 mothers.

RCA are used to dealing with fanbases. Cook’s and Archie’s are just as rabid. And I would agree with the mothering statement about gokeygate, but in this case, it is up to the fans to buy or not to buy, so they have to be involved somehow.

Okay, kind of off topic but I didn’t know where else to ask this- Did everyone know there is a ( stalker) song on ITunes called “Adam Lambert” by a group (?) called Sin Synthetic?

It is also on the group’s MySpace.

You’re right Zombini that the gokeygate was more about mothering. Part of me can’t help but smile at all of this because you know Adam is just loving all the attention. I loved his comment on a recent interview that he loved the fact that many people really liked his Ring of Fire and he loved it even more that people hated it. Boy, you gotta love the man.

This is just one of the things that doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t make sense. If we interpret the Hi-Fi statement as Adam co-owns copyrights then would that give him the power to stop them?

Because you’re misinterpreting his statement. He doesn’t own the copyrights. If Adam owned the copyrights, then not only he, but 19, would have rights to the material. All Hecker is saying is that Adam is credited as a co-writer on many of the tracks, and that he’s thereby entitled to royalties. That’s a very big difference from holding a copyright.

If this is false information, he has opened himself up to legal action, and at the very least public denunciation. Since Adam and 19 are not saying a word about it, my inference is that it’s true.

And for those of you thinking that 19 isn’t pressing the matter legally because their strategy is to just let the matter run its course and not give it any additional publicity– HA! You obviously don’t know 19Evil very well. They threatened to sue poor Josiah Leming who was homeless and lived in his car and had a dying mother in hospice before the season he tried out… even though he was cut before the semifinals

Why? Because another label signed him (Atlantic), but Josiah had failed to observe the mandatory “waiting period” before he could ink a deal with another company.

Because youà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re misinterpreting his statement. He doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t own the copyrights. If Adam owned the copyrights, then not only he, but 19, would have rights to the material. All Hecker is saying is that Adam is credited as a co-writer on many of the tracks, and that heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s thereby entitled to royalties. Thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a very big difference from holding the copyright.

How are they misinterpreting it? Lambert will not only receive songwriting royalties, but he also co-owns the copyrights with Wilshire, Hecker said.

Adam co-owns the Copyright? Certainly not your usual session singer situation. Attended a post-production meeting?

Hmmm no wonder Adam isn’t saying much. Love to hear this Monte fellow weigh in?

The plot continues to thicken….clear as mud.

But here’s s the exact quote from the article, noctem seizure.

Hecker denied some fans’ assertions that Lambert was being ripped off, saying the singer stands to make “a ton of money” through a royalties arrangement commensurate with deals for major artists. Lambert will not only receive songwriting royalties, but he also co-owns the copyrights with Wilshire, Hecker said.

It does say that he co-owns the copyrights in addition to having songwriting credits, or am I missing something?

If Hi-Fi have this type of material – they would make loads of money

For Adam ballad lovers – have a tissue ready

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq7OVHBc8ZA

It does say that he co-owns the copyrights in addition to having songwriting credits, or am I missing something?

I didn’t read the quote carefully enough. Maybe he’s not the majority copyright holder?

Anyway, like I said, don’t think for a minute that if 19Evil had a legal leg to stand on that they wouldn’t be kicking with it with full force. Like I said, Josiah was formerly homeless and sleeping in the backseat of his car, had a mother dying of cancer, and didn’t even make the semifinals of his season. They still went after him after he signed with Atlantic too early– until public backlash forced them to back off.

If Helkerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s statement that Adam also co-owns the copyrights with Wilshire was true, how is it that Adam cannot stop them releasing the album?

I’m no expert on copyright, but doesn’t the holder at some point give some rights to others? For instance, if a songwriter enters into a contract that gives Artist A the right to record and sell a song, the songwriter still owns the song and can sell it to others. But the songwriter can’t decide that they suddenly don’t like Artist A (for whatever reason) and tell them they can’t sell their recording of the song anymore. Artist A has to get some limited use rights under the contract or they risk having nothing.

So, I could see a scenario where Wilshire in the past acquired the rights to record and distribute one of the songs Adam helped write. Adam could still own the copyright and receive mechanical royalties for those songs (and allow others to record that song), but no longer have a say in what is done with that version of the song that was recorded by Wilshire .

If Adam really co-owns the rights then shouldn’t that be listed or specified somewhere? What would be really interesting to know is the legalities concerning co-owning rights and if you can own rights to songs/recordnings and still not be able to stop them. If the statement would imply that Adam had co-writing credits, I wouldn’t give it that much weight, since any note changing apparently could enable them to give him that.

And how do we know he gets royalties? Just because this guy implied so? Shouldn’t that be specified somewhere, like in a contract? But Hi-Fi has never mentioned a contract with Adam, they just bought stuff from Wilshire…

If What is the *best* single, what is the worst one?!

Maybe they just have bad taste! lol. … So what they think is the “worst” song will be fantastic!

Honestly, I just don’t think it matters very much. They have this stuff, and I’m sure they’ve tried every way they can think of to get to release all of it to make as much money as they can — including getting Adam over there and begging, pleading, threatening, etc.

But when all’s said and done, a bunch of Adam music will probably come out this year — theirs, RCAs, youtube vids from the tour, etc. And if people like some of it they will buy it, and if they don’t, they won’t. …

I’m sure RCA/Adam will be trying to make the best, most popular album they can churn out quickly, which is exactly what they were going to try to do before all this happened.

And having this music out there, whatever it is, won’t affect the kind of album they put out, so I can’t see how it would really affect whether people will buy that album. Especially because they have so much more promotional money and clout than these guys. They can put their album everywhere, and Hecker, or whatever his name is, can’t. What he can mainly do is put it on Itunes and his web site and get his name in the press.

But I doubt that he can place it in multiple outlets or do much real promotion except via press release. He won’t get to showcase “Want” on Good Morning, America or the like, while RCA will get whatever they want on the big tv shows. (and given Adam’s notoriety for various reasons, including this one, the RCA album is likely to get even more media attention that it would have otherwise, seems to me …)

Kirsten, it makes sense.
I am reading from previous HiFI statements that Adam co-wrote some tracks on the upcoming album, not necessarily (and probably not) Want.

The much-discussed new single, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Wantà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  by Adam Lambert will be available on iTunes beginning June 23rd, 2009. The song comes from a full album entitled On With The Show, which will be released by Hi Fi Recordings/Wilshire Records this summer. The vast majority of songs on the album were co-written by Lambert, in fact; eight tracks of the forthcoming eleven song album were penned by the artist. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Wantà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  was produced by Malcolm Welsford with additional production by Mark Endert (Maroon 5, The Fray, Fiona Apple).
http://mjsbigblog.com/adam-lambert-pre-idol-single-want-to-be-released-to-itunes-623.htm

The full writing credits for Want should be listed somewhere though. As for the other songs, none one knows yet what is going to be released..

This should be a learning lesson to not sell your rights away. lol Remember this aspiring artists!!!

The only problem with this is that if you are unwilling to sell your rights away, you are very likely not to get *any* work. Because there are always other people desperate enough to be willing to sell their rights.

That works as long as you are willing and able to make a living entirely outside of your art and practice your art only in your free time. But that isn’t a very satisfactory way of going about things, especially for a solo artist who isn’t going to be able to book the kind of gigs that a band can, for example. One big way you get experience and exposure is by trying to make a living from your performing skills — and that virtually always requires signing away some or, more often, all of your rights.

It’s a very tough world for fledgling artists.

OK, how about this then. Let’s say they are trying to give co-writing credits to Adam because he changed a few notes. Would that mean that they can say he co-owns the copyrights to these songs? And how does this ensure he gets royalties? I can’t see how he can get royalties without a contract, and he can’t sign a contract with them since he is under 19. Maybe the last statement is really an ultimatum, like, you want royalties? Sign a contract with us (which they know he can’t do).

Another scenario would be that he wrote some songs in collaboration with Monte, and he sold the rights to Wilshire. Maybe they are early attempts at songwriting, maybe they were not meant for CV, who knows? I still don’t really know how a songwriter operates but shouldnt his selling contract specify his cut in royalties if these songs should ever be recorded and played even though he doesn’t a say in who is recording them and for what they are used? And if his contract was a one where he doesn’t get any royalties, how can this guy say he will get royalties? It doesn’t make sense to me… Also, if Monte really wrote these songs together with Adam as have been implied, why not capture on Madonnas name when promoting it? This guy keeps name dropping people, like Monte, Malcolm Welsford and Mark Endert, why would he shy away from that?

Why do you think RCA is in business? And they’re pretty quick to drop artists that don’t sell. So I wouldn’t expect altruism from any label in this climate.

edit: dial it back, please. keep your comments focused on the subject

“youins” is used by a few older people (those beyond 70 years old usually) in southern Ohio, mainly from those who moved here from Kentucky via crossing the Ohio River through Cincinnati many years ago. It’s not a standard Buckeye term, more an Appalachian term.

OK, how about this then. Letà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s say they are trying to give co-writing credits to Adam because he changed a few notes. Would that mean that they can say he co-owns the copyrights to these songs? And how does this ensure he gets royalties?

Well, I think one reason they’re saying so many things that sound contradictory is that they’re talking about a bunch of different songs. Adam probably is the copyright holder on some of the Citizen Vein stuff, while on other songs — like Want — he probably has no rights or involvement at all. They can make all these statements partly because they throw out there everything that’s true of *any* of the songs and act as if they apply to all of them.

And while they’ve released “Want,” they may well know that they’re not actually in a legal position to release many (or any) of the others at this point because Adam and/or Monte Pittman have a different kind of involvement in those songs. (This is just one possible scenario, of course — maybe they *do* have current rights to release them, but, if so, it seems kind of odd that they release such a non-Adam-y sounding one first …) Obviously, they did release “Want” first because they had clear and total ownership of it. And at this point we don’t know whether they actually have the power yet to release the others or whether this is all part of a strategy to push Adam/Monte/19/RCA into negotiating to release them or something.

Hecker should just shut his mouth and swallow his pride. He is talking himself into litigation.

Well, point # 1: this news goes back to my fear of having Hi Fi release anything right around the time Adam plans to drop his first album – which really will likely create mucho confusion and potentially threaten the marketing campaign for said new album. I was ok with Hi Fi releasing stuff now, because it creates a nicer cushion of time between now and the release date of Adam’s new stuff. So hopefully this will still pan out ok for him, or that RCA will at least be able to keep the new stuff from getting muddled with the old stuff.

On another note, I listened to “Want” last night (still haven’t decided if I’ll buy it yet), and I must say that it is a pretty catchy tune (imo), though the lyrics are really attrocious (how many times can we say “love”?). Adam’s voice of course sounds lovely, and I really think the tune could be potentially salvaged with just some lyric tweeks (like taking out the million uses of the word “love”) :rolleyes_wp:

Which brings me back to pet peeve number one about this whole deal: no input from Adam about the release, and, as Adam’s Dad even suggested, no opportunity either in the past or now for Adam to really make any tweeks on it to make it a little better.

It is possible that what the statement from reuters “Lambert will not only receive songwriting royalties, but he also co-owns the copyrights with Wilshire, Hecker said.” is a loose interpretation of what Hecker said as it’s not even an exact quote.

Adam probably is the copyright holder on some of the Citizen Vein stuff

I still can’t see how they could have CV songs. People keep saying this but how come they haven’t released those? I think you have a point Lucy, in that something is going on in the background. :annoyed_tb: Heh, this is like a good detective story!

Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m reading the Knoll thread on the TWOP website and somebody mentioned that Adamà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s situation can be compared to Christina Aguileraà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s situation years ago. After doing a quick google search on what happened to Christina, Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m inclined to believe that Adam is in the same boat. Thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s probably why 19E and RCA doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t seem to be concerned about stopping HiFi, because they probably know that HiFi somehow is legally entitled to release the record.

They are. If they own the rights, they can do whatever they like with the music.

The fact that neither Adam nor, vicariously, RCA as his contracted record company or 19 as his label and management could do anything to stop it suggests that Adam has no rights over this music whatsoever, whether he co-wrote it or just sneezed on it, and as such will get no money from its sales or airplay (which thankfully it is not getting) except for performer’s rights which are a relative pittance.

It is possible that what the statement from reuters à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Lambert will not only receive songwriting royalties, but he also co-owns the copyrights with Wilshire, Hecker said.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  is a loose interpretation of what Hecker said as ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not even an exact quote.

Tripe! If he owned the copyright in any way, he would have a say in what happened to it and would therefore have not been powerless to stop its release.

Dear Adam,

Could you give us a little statement or something to clear all this stuff up?

Thanks,

Judy
:smile1_ee:

lucy
Jun 24th, 2009 at 8:52 am
Obviously, they did release à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Wantà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  first because they had clear and total ownership of it.

This I think is the main point as to why they released Want. They clearly know that Adam/RCA and 19 have NO legal recourse with this song. They released it first to test the water without having to worry about any legal action.

I think the statement released by Adam was in reference to this song and other session songs he did way back in 2005. He may not know himself exactly which tracks they are referring to when they say he co-wrote them, because as others say if he only added or changed a few words while taping, someone could say OH he had a hand in writing it, but this does not necessarily mean he actually sat down with a writer and wrote.

No-one knows what is going to be on the album so nobody can do much about it at this stage.

Letà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s say they are trying to give co-writing credits to Adam because he changed a few notes. Would that mean that they can say he co-owns the copyrights to these songs? And how does this ensure he gets royalties? I canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t see how he can get royalties without a contract, and he canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t sign a contract with them since he is under 19.

Songs become copyrighted as soon as they are in some tangible form (e.g. written down or recorded or whatever). There is no contract involved. Though, if you want to sue somebody for copyright infringement, you need to register your song with the library of congress (different rules apply in different nations). Congress actually sets the rate at which royalties are paid to songwriters (8 cents for songs shorter than 5 minutes, 15.5 cents for songs longer than 5 minutes). If you have no other agreement, the co-writers of the song get an equal share.

Because much of this is covered by the copyright law, defaults will kick in to some extent even without contracts.

How Stuff Works has an easy to read primer on this stuff.

That said, I kind of doubt that Wilshire/Hi-Fi is giving Adam writing credits after the fact. First of all, they don’t have the right to do that (but I guess they could do some arm-twisting to get the original songwriters to do that). Second (and again, I’m no expert on this stuff), it seems to me that if they did that, they would be throwing their licenses to use the songs into question. They would have been granted a license by only some of the parties. Remember how last year that “Crazy” was on the approved list to sing during Hollywood week, but they ended up not being able to show any of those bits? They had the agreement of one of the songwriters to use the song, but the other songwriter ended up not agreeing so the song did not “clear”.

Given that Wilshire/Hi-Fi don’t seem to be experiencing any legal troubles with their current venture, I would guess that if Adam is to be listed as a co-writer (and paid royalties as one), then he was part of whatever original contract/licensing agreement that was signed (i.e. he was a co-writer back then too).

Reading back the Reuters article, I am wondering whether it was a new interview, or just a rehash of the previous MTV article.

It doesn’t say anywhere that Reuters spoke to Hecker.

The information is the same, except for the comment about Adam co-owning royalies that could be a mis-interpretation of some other comment.. like going from co-writing to co-owning copyrights..only a small exaggeration…

I doubt Adam will make a ton of money from this album, since it seems to me that not many people are interested in purchasing it.

****Could you give us a little statement or something to clear all this stuff

There is really nothing else for him to say. He said where the recordings came from, he also stated when he joined AI he gave up all of his contracts so this may have been involve somehow.

As someone said if he speaks on it it will get more media attention and became a back and forth argument and that would be a dumb move on both parts. I think by saying nothing Hi-Fi is looking like the idiots by continuously droning on and piecemealing their statements.

Yeah, I totally agree that Adam should say nothing. He has said enough in his first statement and the best thing to do is to hope these people stumble and fall. That being said, its a very interesting topic! Who said what, what can be proven, has anyone lied, etc…

In the meantime, Want is #46 on the iTunes Pop Top 100 chart.

over a period of several years, Wilshire paid Adam for session work to sing demos of other songs, and appears to have been involved in recording some demos of some Citizen Vein songs as well, but for whatever reason didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t sign Adam/CV to a recording contract. To me this means they were aware of Adamà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s talent for years and passed up on actually investing in him. So cashing in on him now when they didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have faith in him when they had their chance reeks of shameless opportunism.

Word to THIS and your entire post, soamused. It sums up for me why I have no intention of putting any money in the pockets of Hi Fi/Wilshire by buying anything put out by them. Technical half-truths or not, these guys are dishonest at the core.

The other thing that bothers me is the idea that all of this has happened because Adam has worked so HARD and hustled for so long to get his big career break. I agree with lucy above. These fledging artists are so desperate to get their voice heard that they’ll sign any piece of paper put in front of them.

In my foggy morning brain I seem to remember many many controversies concerning singers/bands that indicate it is entirely possible to write and compose a song and to have that song snatched completely away from you. In the old days, long before our time, songwriters were contracted to a publishing company and they received nothing more for their songs than a weekly paycheck. This often happens in the current music business.

A couple of guys will bring a rough draft of a song to a “record company” they will work through the song, make a demo, get paid for their troubles and the “record company” will then own the “song” to pitch to an active Artist. Depending on the “upfront” money they may get a clause that says they are entilted to a few percentage points of the “profit” the record company makes…but this ONLY applies if they actual got that clause in their initial paycheck.

And like I said there are all kinds of manipulation used by recording companies. As we all know some Artists have NO SAY in what they record. Someone tells them to sing and they sing. Stevie Wonder and most of Motown’s early stable can attest to that….and I am sure any changes these artist’s made to the songs in order to make them more paletable (songwriting) never added their name to the writing credits.

Without reading all the comments in this thread, I have a few observations.

From what I know about Adam, he is a fan of music…in many styles and genres. So I can see him going into HIFI and saying “that’s cool for what it is….it’s just not what I want to do going forward. But it may appeal to some people and may make some new fans.”

As long as HIFI does not market it as post-Idol work. As a fan, I would like to hear early work. I may not buy it, but I would like to hear it. The boy is the best vocalist I have heard in years!

He will make money but he doesn’t want to be associated with stuff he co-wrote when he didn’t have a contract from a big record company. Imo so don’t shoot me, Adam wants to play both sides of this game. He doesn’t want to admit that he will get royalties so Hi-Fi, the evil company, is the only one talking about it. Hi-Fi may be evil in fans’ eyes but they would be dumb not to take advantage of selling his stuff now that he is fresh off Idol and many peeps are talking about him. Any half-brain business would do the same. If this wasn’t legal, they wouldn’t be doing it. No matter what Adam’s fans think, these peeps are professional and they have lawyers just like the well known record labels. The fans just have to wait for the album to see the credits and who wrote what. Memo to Idol, have your band of lawyers check contestants’ bios really carefully and tweak your definition of an amateur.

edit: don’t question the motives of posters, don’t bait.

Memo to Idol, have your band of lawyers check contestantsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ bios really carefully and tweak your definition of an amateur.

The ONLY STIPULATION Idol has is that someone not have a CURRENT recording contract. I would hazard a guess that a lot of Idols WORKED in the business prior to their tenure on the show. And Idol is not and has never been an AMATEUR competition. I know for a fact that every Idol winner and probably most top finishers had gotten paid to sing before they came on the show. Oh and by the way, I watched a Kelly Clarkson biography and I seem to recall she was doing everything musically she could while she was in Hollywood for 6 months or so trying to get a career started prior to Idol. I bet if session work was available to her then she would have jumped at the chance to pay the rent.

Anya – no one knows anything – everything on ths board is pure speculation. We have no idea if Adam is getting money or not, we have no idea if he still had dealings with Hi-Fi or not. And honestly it really don’t matter because it’s not halting anything he’s working on now.

Yes I am very defensive of Adam because no matter what the story is Hi-Fi is really just riding his coattails. He said in the Lyndsay interview, record labels won’t work with you unless you have a following, he has that following now and Hi-Fi decided to work with him a little to late. So Adam don’t have to say a word or explain anything. Hi-Fi is only talking to keep interest but unfortunately it’s not the interest they were hoping to get.

Looking at the positive side, what ever Adam releases after à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Wantà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  will sound like a freaking masterpiece in comparison.

^^^^that.

Sometimes you just wanna sit back, sip a cool drink and listen and watch Adam sing “Whole Lotta Love” while he’s wearing his leather and feathers. :clap_tb:

I bet if session work was available to her then she would have jumped at the chance to pay the rent.

Kelly Clarkson WAS a paid session singer and she had a demo deal. In fact she had been approached by more than one label and turned them down because she did not like the music and image they wanted her to portray.

I also agree that its not a big deal if Adam apparently co wrote some songs long ago. Big whoop. This company is looking for a quick buck and they will get it, but unless they have a million dollar promo budget it will disappear in a few weeks anyway.

CindyM
Jun 24th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Sometimes you just wanna sit back, sip a cool drink and listen and watch Adam sing à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Whole Lotta Loveà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  while heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s wearing his leather and feathers.

Hell yeah!

Another day, another story from HiFi. What. A. Shock. And gee, people have concerns about Adam not getting money and there is a backlash against them so suddenly…Adam co-wrote even MORE songs and oh yeah, he’s going to get the vaguely defined and not at all legally binding “ton of money.” Which gee, what do you know, is another change of story from these guys.

These people are nothing, if not predictable at this point.

And this is crap about them being “David,” to Sony’s Goliath? puh-lease. They are not some well-meaning little guys, they are some opportunistic, liars who are themselves exploiting an artist who has even less power than they purport to. “Co-written,” and “tons of money,” my aunt Fanny.

And of course the media is helping them with their latest round of free publicity as part of mendacious press releases (note just the one line from Adam explaining this crap). Which is smart for HiFi to want to do, but sucky for the media to go along with presenting HiFi’s press release as a real story and not give real context to it. But typical of the lazy corporate media today.

Oh well, I’m sure there will be yet more stories in yet more press releases from HiFi in the days to come. And I’ll continue to believe only the articles such as “the,” contained in them as having any veracity.

Kelly Clarkson WAS a paid session singer and she had a demo deal.

Yup. I think it was Phil Stacey that said in the beginning of AI’s season this year that the show isn’t for “ameaturs”. Kris and Matt both had independent CD’s completed. Anoop was on tv as a child. Adam was in musical theater. Allison won a record deal and then lost it (at no fault of her own), etc. The only person in the top 10 this year with no prior experience was Megan, and we all know how that turned out. lol There would be no show if people didn’t have experience. Commonsense is, if you want to be a pop star, you’re going to sing and try to make it on your own. Idol is sort of a last resort for people, and sometimes it works (Carrie, Daughtry, Hudson, Clarkson). Unfortuantely, most of the time it doesn’t.

HiFi thinks they can make some money now that Adam is hot. Its really that simple. Adam doesn’t own the songs so there’s nothing he can do, but focus on his goal, which is what madonna told him. Hi Fi sounds desperate. You can hear it in the press release. People aren’t flocking to this. It’ll be an old story by the end of the week. Especially with the AI tour starting next weekend.

There is never a dull moment or day when it comes to Adam. Always something, as they say. In the meantime, all the poor guy wants to do is make his music his way and hopefully put out some very good (siiiiiick) music for his fans. Why can’t they just give him that opportunity? Actually, he does appear to be handling all this better than we, his fans.

Regardless, there is never a dull moment in Adamland :exclaim_ee:

I’m stealing this link from TWop, there was an Adam lookalike in Chicago!

Sorry, not sure where my link went…

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10/Rachels_Pictures/4820_120936699907_697759907_2933488.jpg?t=1245717791

oh my gosh, that’s hilarious! i wonder how many “adams” we are going to see in the audition footage.

Wow! Up-and-down and round-and-round, this Adam ride sure is fun, confusing, frustrating, but glad to be along for the ride. Here’s the conclusion I’ve come up with. I am no longer going to try to figure out what’s exactly going on because I will probably never know the whole story. I figure Adam has people who get paid (lots) to worry about his career and deal with legal issues. I am going to sit back, watch Adam videos, listen to Adam music, read about Adam and ENJOY!

I will still read post and continue to put in my thoughts because I have learned alot from everyone here. I just won’t worry or stress about Adam because I have confidence that he and his people know what is best for him and what they are doing. Off to enjoy some Adam. :biggrin_wp:

And of course the media is helping them with their latest round of free publicity as part of mendacious press releases (note just the one line from Adam explaining this crap). Which is smart for HiFi to want to do, but sucky for the media to go along with presenting HiFià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s press release as a real story and not give real context to it. But typical of the lazy corporate media today.

The article I posted is not a press releases. A reporter from Reuters interviewed Hecker. And there would be another side of the story if 19 and Adam were willing to talk, but for whatever reason, they are keeping mum.

I believe that all rights in intellectual property can be given away, assigned, bought and sold.

In terms of songs being stolen, this is why one should register your songs as soon as possible though I imagine that costs money which young starving artists may not be able to afford.

I think copyright vests when you create the thing barring any other contractual arrangement, like when you create something as your job for a company, copyright usually vests in the company not the employee. Registering your songs is just a way to protect your copyright, just like filing or applying for a patent, especially in the case of a dispute but there are other ways of proving you were robbed. Just not cheap or easy litigation.

Several “newbies” like myself wrote last night about how exhilarating yet emotionally exhausting it was to get too invested in a blog like this and someone like Adam, and the vets online said, hell, this ain’t nothing yet.

I am also one of those newbies who spends far too much time on here and other sites (I like this one the best because the news is credible or it isn’t posted — thanks mj — and the people here are absolutely brilliant) and assumed that once the AI season was over, this little obsession of mine would end as well. But here I am, still, and if anything I spend even MORE time here because the Adam news is just so crazy.

I get away with this because luckily this site is not pasted with all sorts of sparkly Adam photos like other sites, so at work it just looks like I am doing research. (Actually, I am in a way — I’m a writer, and reading all these pithy well-written responses inspires me. Seriously.)

So, yeah, I am actually looking forward to what comes ahead. The ride may sometimes be jolting or bumpy, but it’s a hoot. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

sr4mjc
Jun 24th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m stealing this link from TWop, there was an Adam lookalike in Chicago!

Lol! spitting image!!

I imagine their silence could mean many things. Obviously they have no legal recourse but I honestly don’t think they see this as damaging otherwise Adam would put out a more straight forward statement. They are letting it run its course. And if Adam did breach his contract somehow, RCA obviously doesn’t care cause they keep talking about his future work. I bet RCA has done sleezier things than HiFi ever could.

I bet RCA has done sleezier things than HiFi ever could.

Good point. We shouldn’t assume that RCA are the good ones and HiFi the badies in the story. We know the RCA have an iron grip on the idol releases and that they will do what it takes to safeguard their own interest, not necessarily the idols interest.

I was also thinking that we’ll have to see what is released with the album, but if the Citizen Vein stuff is included, I wouldn’t rule out that Adam is OK with it. What if, knowing that he is going to get a contract with RCA, he signed his rights away before the finale to help Monte, knowing that otherwise, his material wouldn’t be released..

We could also speculate on any other number of scenarios I suppose!
I should stop thinking about this story that has been bothering me all day. It will probably be old news next week when another Adam controversy hits the cyberspace!
Or just news from the tour take over…

sr4mjc
Jun 24th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m stealing this link from TWop, there was an Adam lookalike in Chicago!

Lol! spitting image!!

Lots of people have that look in Chicago. I’m a fan of Adam, but his look isn’t unique at all. In fact, at first I thought he was a poser. He won me over with his voice.

I imagine their silence could mean many things. Obviously they have no legal recourse but I honestly donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t think they see this as damaging otherwise Adam would put out a more straight forward statement. They are letting it run its course. And if Adam did breach his contract somehow, RCA obviously doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t care cause they keep talking about his future work. I bet RCA has done sleezier things than HiFi ever could.

Their silence obviously means legally they can’t do anything. I don’t think Adam can say anything w/o 19/RCA attorneys giving approval. I’m sure his first statement wasn’t completely on his own accord.

I don’t see how Adam breached his contract. He didn’t do anything wrong. Too bad we have to wait 4-5 months before his RCA album comes out.

The ONLY STIPULATION Idol has is that someone not have a CURRENT recording contract. I would hazard a guess that a lot of Idols WORKED in the business prior to their tenure on the show. And Idol is not and has never been an AMATEUR competition. I know for a fact that every Idol winner and probably most top finishers had gotten paid to sing before they came on the show.

I know the opinions run both ways on this topic, but I for one am all for allowing more professional people perform on Idol, rather than creating more restrictions limiting people. I would much rather have seasoned, yet young and unknown, musicians, who’ve already worked hard in small bar bands, cutting demos, even having small labels yet making no headway, on the show, then just a bunch of shower-singing wannabes. My favs have always had more polish than the rest of the bunch, because they’re used to performing on a stage, know their music, and are just generally better prepared than the rest. JMO.

Now, I’m anxious to hear more news about Adam’s NEW new album, plus the tour, rather than so much about the Hi Fi stuff

He will make money but he doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t want to be associated with stuff he co-wrote when he didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have a contract from a big record company. Imo so donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t shoot me, Adam wants to play both sides of this game. He doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t want to admit that he will get royalties so Hi-Fi, the evil company, is the only one talking about it. Hi-Fi may be evil in fansà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ eyes but they would be dumb not to take advantage of selling his stuff now that he is fresh off Idol and many peeps are talking about him. Any half-brain business would do the same. If this wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t legal, they wouldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t be doing it. No matter what Adamà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s fans think, these peeps are professional and they have lawyers just like the well known record labels. The fans just have to wait for the album to see the credits and who wrote what. Memo to Idol, have your band of lawyers check contestantsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ bios really carefully and tweak your definition of an amateur.

That old chestnut :rolleyes_wp:

Where does it say or when has it even been verbally implicated that contestants have to be amateur? All that is stipulated is that they must not have an existing recording contract.

Hi-Fi would probably have gotten away with this if they hadn’t lied and made everyone mad. If they had released this material as old demo tapes, it would have been Ho-hum, business as usual.

The only amateur in the top 10 this year was Megan.

And there would be another side of the story if 19 and Adam were willing to talk, but for whatever reason, they are keeping mum.

Which is the smart thing to me. Adam already gave his side of the story last week. Heckler is trying to bait them out by positioning 19 as the “big, bad, recording company” gaming up against little and small Hi Fi. Thats how I took his comment about Goliath. There is no point in going back and forth like Perez is doing. It garners more press which usually ends up making you look bad. Plus, Adam and 19 would be helping Hi Fi by giving them more free press. lol Like Heckler said, he’s not surprised at Adam’s statement. I wouldn’t be either. Adam isn’t going to go backwards when he has the opportunity to work with the best in the biz.

I think Simon said it best. The purpose of American Idol is to hope to find someone who could become a worldwide star. You are not always going to find one in a podunk town. It could be in your own backyard (LA). I would rather see a show with very talented, seasoned, unknown singers — someone like Adam. Boy! Wouldn’t that be a show. No more cringing to people like Sarver and Scott, even Danny.

I think Simon said it best. The purpose of American Idol is to hope to find someone who could become a worldwide star. You are not always going to find one in a podunk town. It could be in your own backyard (LA). I would rather see a show with very talented, seasoned, unknown singers à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  someone like Adam. Boy! Wouldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t that be a show. No more cringing to people like Sarver and Scott, even Danny.

Totally agree. I’m always left wondering how some people got into the top 36, or 12, or 10, or what have you, to begin with. You just got to wonder, with SO many people trying out for AI each year (don’t even know the exact number) were these really the best? (And yeah, I know more than just the voice plays into the decision)

Totally agree. Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m always left wondering how some people got into the top 36, or 12, or 10, or what have you, to begin with. You just got to wonder, with SO many people trying out for AI each year (donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t even know the exact number) were these really the best? (And yeah, I know more than just the voice plays into the decision)

I don’t know how many times I’ve said that. I also hate it when the judges and even the contestants say that they were the best out of 100,000 people. I think they want a cross-section of people with backstories. Sarver, working in a dangerous field, Danny’s well-known story, Megan, pretty face, Scott, blind. Adam got in on pure talent (he was cute and charming too).

Incidentally, I’ve been watching Adam and his Citizen Vein band on youtube. Watching those are seriously turning me into a dirty old lady. My gosh — I can’t stop watching them. What a sex god.

Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m a fan of Adam, but his look isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t unique at all. In fact, at first I thought he was a poser. He won me over with his voice.

I thought the same thing, and disliked him on principle because of it…well I disliked him before I heard him perform. That is what changed me from a hatah to a fantard.

I’ve seen the official statement from Adam. It doesn’t say “don’t buy this music” or “I don’t support this music.” He simply states that he did it prior to idol to earn money and that the cd he’s working on now is gonna be amazing.

People are so busy trying to make an issue out of this and by so doing, will end up with the single ‘WANT’ being mediocre at best. I just look at it as “pre-idol” stuff, put out by a company that got lucky a few years ago hiring Adam to sing (who knew?). They paid him. I agree that it stinks that they are getting it out there before his POST IDOL stuff, but honestly…once that post idol CD is out…the old stuff won’t even matter. I still think it would be amazing for even his pre-idol stuff to rock the charts.

I first saw him in a interview with Justin Guarini and I was a bit turned off by his look, but then I liked his interactions with Justin, then I saw him perform and that was all she wrote.

I like the rule that you only can’t have a current recording contract. I love the idea that people who have working their butts off and want this more than anything finally get the break they want. To me, it’s more moving than someone who just decides to try out on a whim and has never really considered a professional music career.

I think all the work, failures, and determination make them better prepared and more appreciative of what comes next. Just think of how many nights Cook and his band played the same music in the same bar making almost nothing. Bartending to just pay the bills so he could do what he really loved. What was so much a part of his soul. Never giving up, even after yrs of hard work. Like Kris and Matt, putting together your demo cd and trying to find a market. Working every angle. Even, like in Adam’s case, giving away some rights just for the opportunity for maybe someone to give him a chance……maybe that one person to see something in you.

Re Adam – Why would 19 say anything? What else is there to say? Adam did work for them. For money, and trying to get a recording contract going. It was all legal. Adam’s not allowed to promote it, so anything 19 said would really just be promotion. I don’t see what 19 has to say – Adam let people know it isn’t the sound he’s going for.

noctem seizure
Jun 23rd, 2009 at 10:39 pm
As I said before, if Hi-Fi/Wilshire are lying, they sure are doing it an awful lot. Meanwhile, fans AUTOMATICALLY believe these people are lying even though Adam has never yet denied the truth of their statements.

He could set this to rest easily. If these labels are making all these à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“false statementsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  that should warrant at least a denunciation through the media if not a lawsuit. Yet, we hear nothing but crickets from the Lambert camp and 19/RCA.

My guess is that the basic substance of what Hi-Fi/Wilshire are saying is true. Adam doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t own the rights to the material, so the catalogue is not covered under his contract with 19, but he WILL recieve royalties as a songwriter. And 19 is probabaly pissed as hell that that they legally arenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t entitled to any of the money from this project.

I’m agreeing with noctem. Adam never owned the rights to the material (therefore 19 could not get their hands on his pre-Idol work) and now Hi Fi and Wilshire want to release it. Only comments from Adam has been his “The work I did back then in no way reflects the music I am currently in the studio working on.” and even that comment came from 19 who attributes the comment to Adam. Well duh. What artist has liked their first album once they have a few under their belt? Adam’s performance style changed on Idol once Kara called him out, he’s admitted to that in interviews. He cut down on some of the Broadway style theatrics.

Currently, I am not purchasing the cd. But only because I don’t like the single. His vocals are great, but the rest is cheesy. I’ll hold out judgment on the rest of the cd.

Would like more details on who Adam is working with on his “official” debut. Getting bored with the rest of the noise.

I like the rule that you only canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have a current recording contract. I love the idea that people who have working their butts off and want this more than anything finally get the break they want. To me, ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s more moving than someone who just decides to try out on a whim and has never really considered a professional music career.

Yes. I really dislike the claim that this should be a show about “amateurs”, I guarantee you most true amateurs wouldn’t be able to cut it in terms of the pressure put on these kids or the constant stress on their voice, etc. I would FAR rather see hard work and determination and talented people who have spent the time and energy to hone that talent rewarded. Adam has been working his ass off for years doing session work, theater, cabaret gigs (and yes even working retail to pay the bills) trying to get a break and why does he deserve it any less than other people who have also tried to put demo albums out there? They all deserved a chance at a break, as Adam said, especially in this financial climate you just don’t get a big recording contract without a following, AI gives that chance to build a following to everyone who makes it to the Top 12 (maybe even the Top 36) it’s all about exposure and I guarantee you that Matt and Kris and Danny and all the rest know that just as well as Adam does.

The article I posted is not a press releases. A reporter from Reuters interviewed Hecker. And there would be another side of the story if 19 and Adam were willing to talk, but for whatever reason, they are keeping mum.

Maybe they aren’t saying anything because it would just give Hi Fi more publicity if there’s a back and forth of press stories on the issue. I’d really like to know what the straight up story is but interviews and press releases are the only way Hi Fi can get any publicity for this single.

I would much rather have seasoned, yet young and unknown, musicians, whoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve already worked hard in small bar bands, cutting demos, even having small labels yet making no headway, on the show, then just a bunch of shower-singing wannabes. My favs have always had more polish than the rest of the bunch, because theyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re used to performing on a stage, know their music, and are just generally better prepared than the rest.

Me, too. I would also like to see Idol be honest about this and simply tell us what people have actually been doing instead of suppressing stuff, overplaying the irrelevant parts of backstories, etc. I truly can’t imagine why this would somehow wreck the show — all it would do would be to make it less like the execrable Britain’s Got Talent!

But I also would like world peace and evidence that chocolate is the world’s most important health food. Probably shouldn’t hold my breath for any of this.

Only comments from Adam has been his à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The work I did back then in no way reflects the music I am currently in the studio working on.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  and even that comment came from 19 who attributes the comment to Adam. Well duh. What artist has liked their first album once they have a few under their belt?

How is this a “first album?” He was a session singer, singing crappy demos with bare minimum instrumentation that some third party has now cobbled together into an “album.” I hardly consider this to be Adam’s “first album.”

The point is not so much that this will hurt Adam’s career long-term (I don’t think it will). To me, the insult is that Hecker is trying to portray himself as someone who is helping Adam (or at least, three press releases ago he was) when clearly he is only in it for the money and could give a rat’s ass about Adam or his future.

Yup. I think it was Phil Stacey that said in the beginning of AIà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s season this year that the show isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t for à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“amateursà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ . Kris and Matt both had independent CDà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s completed. Anoop was on tv as a child. Adam was in musical theater. Allison won a record deal and then lost it (at no fault of her own), etc. The only person in the top 10 this year with no prior experience was Megan, and we all know how that turned out. lol There would be no show if people didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have experience. Commonsense is, if you want to be a pop star, youà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re going to sing and try to make it on your own. Idol is sort of a last resort for people, and sometimes it works (Carrie, Daughtry, Hudson, Clarkson). Unfortuantely, most of the time it doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t.

HiFi thinks they can make some money now that Adam is hot. Its really that simple. Adam doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t own the songs so thereà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s nothing he can do, but focus on his goal, which is what madonna told him. Hi Fi sounds desperate. You can hear it in the press release. People arenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t flocking to this. Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll be an old story by the end of the week. Especially with the AI tour starting next weekend.

It’s no different in Pop Idol and X Factor in the UK (or the BBC’s Fame Academy for that matter) and I dare say no different the world over.

I bet RCA has done sleezier things than HiFi ever could.

Touche weese touche. It’s show BUSINESS and the recording industry is as ruthless as it comes.

With great rewards come great risks and big rats, bwah.

In terms of Idol, I was figuring there would be a flood of musical theatre types auditioning these year – the bottomline is there are thousand of very gifted singers in this field, dare I say it just as gifted as Mr. Lambert but because just about everyone in musical theatre is gifted, being able to stand out from the crowd is either a function of luck, who you know or just being that much more gifted than your already gifted colleagues.

Speaking of Danny (I know, I know, I’m the one who brought him up) — has anyone heard anything more about what is happening with his talks with 19? It’s been at least two weeks.

The issue regarding amateur vs ringer vs virtually unknown music industry virgin is really the fault of American Idol for perpetuating a fairy tale that was never completely true because it is good for ratings – you see distortion is not just the domain of Hi Fi Records, bwah.

Well pure dark chocolate does have health benefits if consumed in moderation, just saying.

Check out the four links to new videos with Adam, Kris and Allison. http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=losangelestimes&view=videos

Does anyone realize that this story is basically back to being nothing now? hehe.. It kinda shows that this really doesn’t have legs and kinda shows how it was right of Adam & co. to keep mum instead of the back and forth being in the news. This probably means that they’re going to release the album soon. I don’t get why they exactly need a rollout for this but I guess they like to pretend that they really are debuting Adam’s “new” album.

Check out the four links to new videos with Adam, Kris and Allison. http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=losangelestimes&view=videos

Thanks xuziqueue for the above link! The videos are great. Wish they were longer! Everyone seems to be having such a good time!

The video where Adam interviews Kris is very funny:

Kris: Katy’s gonna visit some cities, some shows: so she can hang out with you.
Adam: We can do each other’s nails.
Kris: Facials, the whole spa treatment.
Adam: So what are you going to wear?
Kris: I don’t know.
Adam: Surprise, surprise.
Kris: I actually brought you here to see if you would help me out.

The video where Kris interviews Adam is also funny:

Adam: Iike your announcer voice. It’s really, really good.” ”
Adam: I am so sick of this water bottle. (Kris tosses it)
Then Adam talks about what he is going to wear on the tour. The spikes in particular interest Kris.

LOL

HI-FI for the *zzzz*
KRADAM FTW

Check out the four links to new videos with Adam, Kris and Allison. http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=losangelestimes&view=videos

Thanks xuziqueue! There are Adam Kris, Kris Allision, Anoop Matt, Megan Lil interviews. They are so funny. Maybe Danny and Michael will come up soon. I like the match ups.

“…accoutrement (with a French accent)…”
” I don’t know what that means.”

“Wonderful.” (he is imitating Gene Simmons.)

Too cute.

I wish there were Adam interviewing Allision and vice versa

I wonder who’s filming these vids cuz you can hear some laughter by the camera person at times.

I know the opinions run both ways on this topic, but I for one am all for allowing more professional people perform on Idol, rather than creating more restrictions limiting people. I would much rather have seasoned, yet young and unknown, musicians, whoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve already worked hard in small bar bands, cutting demos, even having small labels yet making no headway, on the show, then just a bunch of shower-singing wannabes. My favs have always had more polish than the rest of the bunch, because theyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re used to performing on a stage, know their music, and are just generally better prepared than the rest. JMO.

^^^ YES!!! This whole incident proves where the HUGE disconnect is in the music industry. That there is INCREDIBLE talent out there, busting ass, sacrificing, working on their art and not breaking through. Adam totally got that and knew he was stuck in the chasm and only something radical would propel him to the other side. Like he has said, “No one gets discovered anymore.” Look at all the talent that AI has brought out that we would have never had known existed otherwise.

I have far more respect for those who have been trying, every way they can, to make it as an artist. And suddenly, I’m brought to that kid from the auditions last year (which almost turned me off AI for good) who was obsessed with “being famous.” It wasn’t about honing a God-given talent and working and sacrificing for your art à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ he just wanted to be instantly famous. And his mom was comforting him (after he flamed out, of course) “Oh that’s okay, honey, you’ll be famous one day …” I was so depressed after watching that.

Adam, in particular, is so representative of this both for his undeniable talent and the number of years he’s been working. Kelly, Kris, Cook, Daughtry, Jennifer H., etc. were still in their early 20s, so who knows what would have eventually happened. Archie and Allison were still in their teens.

Check out the four links to new videos with Adam, Kris and Allison. http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=losangelestimes&view=videos

Adam and Kris are so cute together! Too bad the clips are very short!

There should be an article to go with the videos soon according to their blurb on youtube.

You can hear Adam singing in the background in the Anoop/Matt interview. I love Matt’s giggles! It’s contagious!

I want to be their Bffs! Nice to see them relaxed and having fun, despite all the ‘Crap’ that is going on with Hifi right now.

ahhh those videos are so great! i love these kids.

i love me some kradam and those interviews are great, but i think my fave is allison interviewing kris

mock phone calls from p.diddy…allison joking that she only gets calls from her aunt and then

allison: “how does it feel to have to rehears with all these losers, since ya know, youre the winner”
kris: “it’s hard… i usually try to surround myself with winners. like p.diddy”

i love the snark and playfulness of kris in these videos. and adam’s character voices are always so hilarious.

So how pathetic a fangirl have I become. I just repeatedly played the Anoop/Matt interview (and I don’t care for either) because Heart said you could hear Adam singing in the background.

And you can, though I can’t quite make out what song it is. It comes toward the end so you have to sit through the whole thing.

Is it any wonder then I am the person HiFi was thinking of when they decided to release “Want”?

Adam mentioned some tour vids appearing on his official website in one of his recent interviews – so I can’t wait to see those! I’d love more candid, behind-the-scenes tour stuff coming out

Love the adam-kris kris-adam interviews . What a cool couple

Adam’s singing ‘Don’t Stop Belivin’ and yes, I listened to it over and over, don’t feel bad!

ravengirl i totally just did the same thing and im almost certain he is singing journey’s “dont stop believing” which is the group number, i believe.

he’s singing the “she’s just a small town girl, living in a lonely world” part

I work in a cube and can’t watch videos. I’m loving reading your commentary on them though!

I’ll up the ‘fangirlness’. I just got a text and jumped because I thought it might be an Adam tweet. And I’m 36, it’s really sad. And to think my husband thought this would be over after the season ended. Ha!

I think it is hilarious that so many people are replaying Anoop/Matt vid just to hear Adam singing in the background. People are even commenting on this vid, mentioning Adam.

As they say, “Anything Adam.”

Hi Fi gave more quotes to US News. Some of it sounds delusional like this quote:

“As co-writer and performer, Adam will receive significant royalties just as any superstar artist would. He has the chance, finally, to make a fortune for his work — definitely more with this album than through a major label deal.

How does adam stand to make more money with an indie company than a large one?? Anyways, here is the link to the article.

http://www.usmagazine.com/news/indie-label-defends-releasing-adam-lamberts-pre-idol-recordings-2009246

Good ears, guys! I think you are right. It does sound like “Don’t Stop Believing.” I can hear him sing “Born and raised in South Detroit.”
Oh man, what the hell has happened to me.

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦accoutrement (with a French accent)à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 
à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t know what that means.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

LOL accoutrements are accessories.

okay the interviews are cute i listened to the one with anoop interviewing matt several times to figure out what adam was singing in the background and i think it was don’t stop believing

I don’t even know what to make of that Us Magazine article. Jaw on floor. Is he really that crazy or could there be any truth to that? My head it spinning.

I wish there were Adam interviewing Allision and vice versa

I think Adam must be the one taping Kris and Allison’s or he is in the room because you can hear his laugh at one point which is quite distinctive.

LMAO off at the watching the vid to hear the Adam snippet….someone needs to rip that part audio only.

How does adam stand to make more money with an indie company than a large one??

I’m sure they are saying that to entice Adam fans to buy this album. It could potentially be true if they do sell a lot of albums, because a larger label may have more overhead, more middlemen, etc. Their statement is still vague, however.

With that said, Adam is going to make a fortune on his tour (not AI tour), not selling albums.

The article I posted is not a press releases. A reporter from Reuters interviewed Hecker. And there would be another side of the story if 19 and Adam were willing to talk, but for whatever reason, they are keeping mum.

Of course you are correct.

My feeling on this arise that while its understood it’s from a “news,” piece from Reuters, it seems to be presenting as facts to this issue, that have only come from a HiFi press release. Examples: “Before he became a household name, the flamboyant singer spent three years recording songs for Los Angeles-based Wilshire Records.” They aren’t quoting this as part of Heckler’s statements, the only quotation marks are from mine taking it from the article itself. This is part of this article’s presenting this three years, as an understood timeframe. When we know the “three years,” is from the HiFi press releases. We also know that Adam’s press release disputes that timeframe, so using it as an understood matter of course within this article, and not an atttributable quote from one side of a dispute, is to me, using parts of a press release, as part of a news story.

Same with the quote “Lambert co-wrote nine of the songs, working mostly with Madonna’s guitarist, Monte Pittman,” as anything other than something that should be attributed soley to Heckler/HiFi. What is known right now from the catalouges, is Adam only has 4 songs listed as a co-writer with Pittman. But again, this article instead is using HiFi’s statements in/to the press, as seemingly established facts and ignoring the possibility that this isn’t accurate and that there might be evidence that it isn’t, i.e. writer catalouges, that doesn’t support this claim.

Though totally granted, all of this isn’t part of yet another HiFi press release, per se, it’s just shoddy journalism to use Heckler’s “facts,” as part of a story without providing any context around it, like by attribution instead of intimating it as actual facts.

Also in this article, while it’s true that no new quotes have been given out by Adam or 19E to refute Heckler’s newest claims in this article, I find it interesting that the author chose to ignore the parts of Adam’s previous press statement of Adam’s which does dispute much of what Heckler does say. The author uses instead only the previously isssued 19E statement, which uses one part of Adam’s quote, but again, doesn’t give any other context beyond that. Context which does exist in Adam’s full release, which would be very applicable to what Heckler’s saying. Of course the author can choose what sources, quote or framework they feel most relevant. And seemingly the framework they decided on was David v. Goliath and 19E machine being challenged, so anything that might get in the way of that, wasn’t going to be used. Which is fine, it is in the nature of the beast. I’m just not impressed by this latest example of what seems to me, to be shoddy journalism.

*****Hi Fi gave more quotes to US News. Some of it sounds delusional like this quote:

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“As co-writer and performer, Adam will receive significant royalties just as any superstar artist would. He has the chance, finally, to make a fortune for his work à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  definitely more with this album than through a major label deal.

How does adam stand to make more money with an indie company than a large one?? Anyways, here is the link to the article.

http://www.usmagazine.com/news/indie-label-defends-releasing-adam-lamberts-pre-idol-recordings-2009246*****

This guy is sounding more and more defensive and desperate. Just release the album and shut up about it.

ok, this HiFi guy get’s more ridiculous by the day. yesterday he was talking about scaring goliath to make this album sound more significant than it is and now he’s trying to make it sound like RCA/19 is forcing adam to do music that isnt him and that this little album of demos is ACTUALLY what adam sounds like. yes, HiFi… clearly you are the heroes in this situation.

earth to John Hecker! i think ADAM knows what ADAM’s sound is and he made it clear that “want” isn’t it!

Yeah, I don’t care about Anoop and Matt (tho Matt is cute), I want to hear more Adam. *sigh* Glambert Fangirl in da house.

But nothing, NOTHING, absolutely nothing beats the Kradam videos. Haters: take note.

I want to go to a Kradison concert…can this be arranged?!

Yeah, I bought Want. I’m sorry, Adam, but I needed more *you*! Come on, 19/RCA, release a *real* Adam single post haste!

Want sounds like something done on GarageBand, this Heckler tool is a piece of work!

Ok, maybe I am gullible, could any of this be kind of true about compensation? I do want Adam to make money off prior work, but I certainly don’t want it to interfere with his new relationship with RCA.

Ok, maybe I am gullible, could any of this be kind of true about compensation? I do want Adam to make money off prior work, but I certainly donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t want it to interfere with his new relationship with RCA.

It sounds like Hecker is going to make it true because obviously the s**t was raining down on him after his first two (?) releases/statements (forgive me, I’m losing count). That first lame-ass PR double-speak line about “sharing in the success” got by NOBODY, particularly Adam’s fans. So he revised yesterday (practically promising bazillions) and promised more still today.

Since he owns the rights, it is within his rights to give Adam whatever he decides (since the contract/writing credits/royalties all seem pretty muddled at this point). My gut is that he is throwing us, the fans, that bone to get us to loosen up the purse strings. But is it too little, too late?

I say bullsh*t on the compensatuà ­on part. All talk.

I’ll buy that he could potentially make more on an indie label than a major label, IF they sell an equal number of records. It’s possible an smaller label could have given him a bigger percentage. However, there is no way this album will sell nearly what is expected from the RCA release this fall. I’m calling bullsh*t on these latest statements as well. Off to read last night’s tweets and listen to Feelin Good ~

whether he really is doing this to get the fans on board or not, i now have this image of Hecker in a scrooge like position, sitting behind his desk grumbling about having fan’s negotiating on adam’s behalf.

“what’s that Cratchit? they won’t buy the record because adam isn’t getting paid? tell them he will “share in the success” yes yes that will work, they’re probably only tweens after all”

“what now? they didn’t buy that? ok write him a check and tell them he will be compensated.”

“no? still not working? ok give him royalties and tell them he will stand to make a lot of money”

“still boycotting?! FINE tell them he is going to make more money with us than RCA. and throw something in there about us saving him from the big label puppeteers. that will pull at their heartstrings”

My gut is that he is throwing us, the fans, that bone to get us to loosen up the purse strings. But is it too little, too late?

If I was convinced Adam was going to get compensated – generously compensated – I suppose I’d buy it because then it would be to Adam’s benefit.

There’s the problem of this single undercutting RCA’s release though. The last thing I want is for people to think this is Adam’s “signature sound” because it’s not and Adam distanced himself from it.

This guy is sounding more and more defensive and desperate. Just release the album and shut up about it.

Yes. Thats how I take it as well. Heckler gets more defensive the more he talks. He’s acting like 19 is keeping Adam prisoner by “turning” him into something he’s not. Adam came to AI with the eyeliner, hair, style, etc. Thats what made him so appealing. I do get what they are doing, but it just doesn’t seem necessary. Adam isn’t going to support this project so they should just try to make as much money on it as they can and more onto their other artists. Its obvious they want to give their company a boost by being the ones to have “discovered” Adam.

Maybe Hi Fi is mad that 19 won’t buy them out.

You know what? I don’t see this story on a lot of sites, and the articles/reports say that Adam doesn’t want this old stuff released.

*****Maybe Hi Fi is mad that 19 wonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t buy them out.

I think that may be the real issue here. They probably thought 19 wouldn’t let it get this far

No, he will not make a huge chunk of money or whatever… unless they are assuming that he will sell millions and millions of albums (but sorry, that is not happening). They are getting so desparate though!

If Adam really did have writing credits that he owns and will get money for, he would not be allowed to release any music without his permission which would breach his contract with RCA. The fact that they are so freely trying to sell this is proof that Adam does not own any part of those songs.

Scumbags! grr.. I wonder what other press releases they will release

I’m tired of this whole story. It is a clear case of exploitation on the part of HiFi and they’ll not make a dime off me. Why not just BOYCOTT HiFi/Wilshire and be done with this ugly mess? Adam’s RCA release is what he wants everyone to be excited about.

Yes, they are getting desperate. In fact, I think Adam may be only a few press releases away from being a co-owner of the label! :rolleyes_wp:

Yes, they are getting desperate. In fact, I think Adam may be only a few press releases away from being a co-owner of the label!

Best comment ever! Perez commented on the story, again trying to slate it, in my opinion, in a little Adam-negative way.

Perez never gets his stories straight unless he is trying to pimp out his friends Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. He is just trying to get more people to his site since no one is taking his side in the Will I Am fight.

food for thought: if Want somehow blows up, don’t you think rca would move him towards that direction if they see that’s what sells? they see that safe Adam is not as good so they’ll let him be free to be more creative.

Lets hire Will.I.A.M. ‘s manager to take Heckler out.

A bit OT but the Adam fans are here. The following is from an AOL interview with Ellen DeGeneres:

What do you think about Adam Lambert’s Rolling Stone and the 20/20 interviews?

“Well obviously you’re talking to somebody who is a big believer in being truthful, just because it’s the healthiest thing that you can do for yourself, and it’s not trying to be anything other than honest. And you know also as a byproduct of that, you’re helping other people that are struggling. You know, we’ve seen recently in the press how many kids have killed themselves because of being bullied and teased at school. And so whenever there’s somebody that is successful and talented and happy and openly gay, I think that sends a really positive message for all these kids out there that are struggling. I mean, you know, in this business alone, there are so many closeted people still, so I’m proud of him. I’m happy for anyone who has the guts to actually tell the world who they are, and not fear that they’re going to lose their career or alienate anybody.”

lavender1960, couldn’t agree with you more! There’s all this finger-pointing that this smaller label is trying to capatilize on Adam, but isn’t his current record label also doing that? Isn’t that the whole real reason for the tv show? you think it’s all about supporting artists? It’s a business, plain and simple. I personally really like Adam’s music so I would really like to hear this album myself.