Idol Headlines for 06/04/12

By On 06/04/2012 · 121 Comments · In American Idol, Headlines

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Jordin Sparks, Jason Aldean Among Presenters for CMT Music Awards (Exclusive) – Hollywood and Nashville will come together this summer for the 11th annual CMT Music Awards, hosted this year by country superstar Toby Keith and House of Lies actress Kristen Bell. A wide array of stars will be on hand for the June 6 ceremony, including presenters Ashley Greene, Dax Shepard, Denise Richards, Jake Owen, Jason Aldean, Jordin Sparks, Kellie Pickler, Ronnie Dunn, Sara Evans, Steve Austin, The Band Perry and Tom Arnold. – Read more at The Hollywood Reporter

Kelly Clarkson & Brandon Blackstock: Bonfire Celebration! – Kelly Clarkson is all smiles with boyfriend, Brandon Blackstock, as they pose for a photograph at a Barn Party Bonfire Celebration held at Cowboy Town on Thursday (May 31) in Whites Creek, Tenn. – See the Photos at Just Jared

Paul McDonald and Nikki Reed Attend the MTV Movie Awards

Jennifer Hudson: ‘Boss Baby is Back!’ – Jennifer Hudson shows off her wild side in a pair of animal print pants as she gets ready to fly out of LAX Airport on Saturday (June 2) in Los Angeles. The 30-year-old entertainer waved to the cameras then headed to catch her flight. – Read more at Just Jared

10 Career Lessons From Celebrities That Apply To You And Me – Being fired or laid off is not the end of the world (Taylor Hicks). American Idol winner, Taylor Hicks, was dropped by his label after his first album, so he went on tour with the musical theatre production of Grease and sold his own albums at each stop, making several million dollars in the process. If your high-flying career hits an obstacle, you can turn it around with creativity, persistence, and continuing to put yourself out there. – Read more at Forbes

Season 2 SYTYCD Winner Benji Schwimmer comes out

Benji comes out in an interview with Mormonstories.org. The video is 2 hours long, but is absolutely riveting. Benji discusses struggling with his sexuality as a devout, practicing Mormon and it is heartbreaking. Once I began watching, I couldn’t stop.

Glee Star, Dianna Agron auctions off a kiss at the Glaad Awards

Glee star, Dianna Agron, auctioned off a kiss at Friday night’s Glaad awards in San Francisco. Dianna was the host at the third in a series of media award events.

WATCH: ‘Hunger Games’: Stars Who Didn’t Make The Final Cut Revealed!

In this ‘After Hours,’ Elizabeth Banks explains why Chris Colfer, Chloë Moretz and others never made it to the big screen. (Pretty funny!)

 

Chris Colfer bookstore appearance dates! — FIRST LOOK – Glee star Chris Colfer has been on sold-out arena tours before, but come July, he’ll be embarking on a different kind of tour altogether. To promote his upcoming children’s book The Land of Stories (July 17), he’ll be giving book signings across the country, mostly in the New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco areas, as well as in Kurt Hummel’s home state of Ohio. – See the schedule at Entertainment Weekly

 
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  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WIHKL34XDORTS2UZP4SWUUTG3U randi

    I would certainly love to be privy to all these artists financial records to know who made squat v. who made “tons” of money. 

  • dabney c

    It is doubtful that any of the recent Idols will sell 4.6 million albums
    in the next 20 years. Unless they write their own songs, and I don’t
    mean being one of many writers just to get a credit, they are looking at
    zero income as recording artists.

    Can someone explain to me why it works this way? Why would a recording artist get zero from the sales of their recordings? Clearly artists are chosen by labels because of their potential appeal to the buying public, so I imagine that’s worth something a little more than zero.

  • Larc

    Susan Boyle made quite a bit of money just from album sales since she doesn’t seem to be up to touring.

    But SuBo is music royalty.  She’s the Queen of Karaoke!  ;)

  • Anonymous

    MJ – Thank you for posting that interview with Benji. It really moved me. I have such admiration for him and to hear his story was heartbreaking but uplifting at the same time to see that he’s finding his way, his own way.

    As with anything that has large influence on our lives, religion has the ability to be a great source of bad as well as good. While I don’t agree with the exclusionary and in many cases discriminatory practices of most major religions toward those of any sexuality other than hetero, I won’t discount the good things that religion has done. I just wish we could all love and respect each other without the judging. Sigh. I guess I’ll always keep hoping for that perfect world.

    I do think its awesome that Benji is putting his story out there. I hope that others who are in a similar position that he was in might see it and draw hope. I also hope the church policy change they spoke about that happened in 2011 can be reversed. That’s 100% ridiculous. I know that’s just a start but I think its an important one.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/IKAPTNAJ2NDD2P5QWGFWGEY6ME Mary

    That was awesome!

  • Anonymous

    I would imagine that Taylor cut himself a lucrative deal for the Grease tour.

    While I have no inside info, my theory is based on four factors

    1) He was the first one signed to the tour according to Playbill.com, making him a high priority on the producers list http://www.playbill.com/news/article/121314-Idol-Winner-Hicks-to-Star-in-Grease-National-Tour

    2)You will notice that both Playbill and Broadwayworld.com ( Broadway websites) refer to Taylor as the star of Grease, something that usually would not be done for a cameo – featured player http://nationaltours.broadwayworld.com/article/GREASE_Starring_IDOL_Taylor_Hicks_Closes_at_Marcus_Center_228_20100228

    3)He was allowed to come out after the show and do a couple of songs for the audience promoting his CD and he was connected to events such as this http://www.broadway.tv/blog/broadway-magazine/taylor-hicks-in-grease-offering-meet-and-greets-for-475/

    4) He was credited for bringing in some $150,000 a week in audience revenue during his run on Broadway http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/item_aopKypEfT6c8eHO73I8nSI;jsessionid=3E78A7D20C8B355FB6E89D17207D141B

  • Nele621

    Lyle Lovett putting out 11 albums in the last 20 years and selling 4.4 mil in all those years may have something to do with him not making a cent. His costs for those 11 albums have exceeded revenue from sales.

  • http://twitter.com/eilonwya10 Eilonwy

    Can someone explain to me why it works this way? Why would a recording artist get zero from the sales of their recordings? Clearly artists are chosen by labels because of their potential appeal to the buying public, so I imagine that’s worth something a little more than zero.

    It’s an artifact of how a major label’s accounting is typically done.

    When the label says to the artist “let’s make an album together!”, the label pays the artist an advance, which is a lump sum of money that the artist is to live on while making the album. (Sometimes this is folded into the recording fund for making the album, but not with Idol contracts.)

    The artist does not directly repay the advance to the label. Instead, the label does not pay mechanical royalties for album/song sales to the artist until the label has made back the entire amount of the advance. (The accounting gets fancier than that, as the label charges the artist for lots of things, but that’s the general idea.)

    So the artist did see money, in the form of the advance. If the album sells really whompus amounts, it will achieve recoupment, and the artist will start getting paid mechanical royalties. If it sells at a more normal level, the cycle repeats for the next album. So it’s possible to sell a whompus total of albums over the course of a long career without ever selling enough of any one album to see recoupment.

    Mechanical royalties are completely separate from songwriting royalties, which are not affected by recoupment. Musicians who write their own songs see songwriting royalties from the very first album sale.

  • Anonymous

    Can someone explain to me why it works this way? Why would a recording artist get zero from the sales of their recordings? Clearly artists are chosen by labels because of their potential appeal to the buying public, so I imagine that’s worth something a little more than zero.

    I think Lyle Lovett explained it, the album getting exposure, which is why artists might stick with a major label, allows the artist to make a lot of money by touring.  And as we’ve seen with established acts, an artist can make a whole lot of money for years, even if they aren’t getting played on the radio or even releasing new music, by touring.  It seems like all of the acts who are selling out arenas, aside from Gaga and Bieber, are older acts, who haven’t released new music in years, if not decades.  It’s probably not impossible for someone to make a lot of money from touring, if they aren’t with a major label, but the main point of being with a label is to reach as many people as possible, and it’s hard to do that without some type of backing, even with the advances in technology.

    I think that things are a little different form major acts, who can get as much as 20% of the profits from their albums and singles that they sell, but even for them, the major money is in touring.  

  • dabney c

    Thanks, Eilonwy. Just as I thought – it’s not that the artist is excluded from royalties per se, it’s more about recoupment of the advance, and not selling enough post-recoupment to get to the royalties part. Right? So the benefit of a major label is the publicity it can generate pushing singles to radio, which in turn puts asses in seats at the venues during the artist’s tour.

    P.S. thanks to you also, elliegrll. Yeah, that’s what I figured, because otherwise there’s no real benefit to sticking with a major.

  • Mateja Praznik

    Cheryl Cole got THISCLOSE to Queen Elizabeth II.

    Cheryl Cole
    ?@CherylCole
    This image will live with me Forever.. I could never have dreamed of this moment.. #GodSaveOurQueen #Honoured http://say.ly/Vvl3t9r

  • Mateja Praznik

    Gary Barlow and Cheryl Cole sing a duet … yes, it’s THAT country song.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlfZ9hGzv0g

  • Anonymous

    I thought the Benji interview was just so sad and harrowing.  I think he made a wise decision to leave the church.  He was not accepted by his religion, and will be better on a journey of spiritual discovery were he can find a place that celebrates the wonderful person he is.  

  • Anonymous

    MJ – Thank you for posting that interview with Benji. It really moved
    me. I have such admiration for him and to hear his story was
    heartbreaking but uplifting at the same time to see that he’s finding
    his way, his own way.

      The two hours unfold like a movie. The whole time I’m thinking “this situation has to have a happy ending!”  It’s bittersweet, but Benji–such a beautiful and spiritual man–ends up in a good place.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_P46N6P5XPK22JVXDJJEENXGLVE marie

    I have not finish watching the video it’s so sad hearing this story.  The more I think about it the more I feel the churches are the biggest bully against the LGBT community.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MV64BS4FSISCASL4P656RXAFYQ Kayla

    Oh wow, that interview with Benji was long but I’m glad I watched it. So heartbreaking to think of the contortions he went thru to try and please his church, I’m so happy he’s on the other side of that now, loving and not just accepting but embracing himself as he is. Inspiring.

  • http://twitter.com/desireechick Kesia Monteith

    Since the Benji interview is still being talked about over here, I just want to say if you haven’t already, you guys most definitely MUST see part 2, and even take a look at part 1. But part 2, man….boy, everything you thought about SYTYCD and MORE, all behind the scenes. Benji’s crushes, haters (yes, very vindictive people on the show, hmph), interesting reveal about Nigel and Cat Deely, and all the choreographers, just a must see indeed. 

    So yes, Part 2, you guys should take some popcorn and watch. Again, it’s nearly two hours (sigh, I know) but it really is worth it. I never knew Benji was so fascinating, but his life really is a story to tell. 

    Some great SYTYCD stuff in this vid:

    Part 2
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZgIACujltE&feature=relmfu

  • Anonymous

    Just finished Benji part 3 and found it quite profound.
    Gotta save part 2 until tomorrow, though.

  • Valentin432

    The SYTYCD revelations are mostly known by fans of the show that I’ve read online.
    I mean, it’s been a long time since contestants have spoiled that the partners and dance styles aren’t really picked out of a hat.
    Cat Deeley is known for being awesome.

    As for the whole season 2 cast dymanics, I do wonder who Benji was attracted to in the cast, my guess based on his description of the whole cast is Ben Susak.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ENXWTPQX7WDUGFKDMOUHAWCQMY Van

    Aw Kelly and Brandon look so cute together. Kelly will be in the UK this week. Dark Side is off to a great start over there. She’ll be doing several print/radio interviews and the following: 
    June 6 – Live Lounge
    June 7 – This Morning
    June 8 – Loose Women
    June 9 – Capital Summertime Ball

  • Anonymous

    Thanks for posting the Benji interview MJ. I only had time to watch about half of parts #2 and #3, but they’re pretty amazing. It’s not often that I can listen to someone talk continuously for more than 1/2 an hour! Hopefully I’ll have time to watch the rest. Kesia you were right. The SYTYCD stuff is really interesting. 

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