http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2009/11/american_idol.html

That’s really rather misleading. Permanent wasn’t a normal single release, its only promotion was a single performance on Idol and it was not sent to radio (and the single being the performance on AI). Time Of My Life was the coronation song, only included in the album for that reason (Kris Allen didn’t even bother to include his coronation song in his). Bar-Ba-Sol was barely promoted, hardly any money was spent on it.

I agree. Calling Permanent a single is really far-fetched imo, and BBS doesn’t count either. TOML was the coronation single and was released a long time before the cd. In 12 months, only 2 singles were released from the cd. If one counts TOML, then there were 3 singles in 18 months. Bottom line, RCA put out 2 singles off the cd and there is no good reason for it, imo.

I think Declaration or Heroes should have been the first single and I think Lie should have definitely been the second. A good backup for that would’ve been Avalanche. These songs are all much, much stronger than the ones that were released (even Princess Carrie agrees) *and* he had a hand in writing them which makes them at least marginally more connected to him as an artist than what they released. It never ceases to puzzle me how they could take a proven songwriter ‘” the guy wrote an entire CD (let alone the other songs/CDs he wrote) and released it independently to local and regional accolades. He can write music and yet they wouldn’t release a single song that HE wrote. They’re imbeciles!

Wow can I just bow down to you? It’s so refreshing to hear someone tell it like it is. ITA with you.

But I think people were reassured with the reasoning that tptb knew what they were doing and this would give him that elusive top 40 hit.

A lot of us weren’t reassured but what could we do? We can’t do anything, the label calls the shots, we can only hope for the best with each single. Sure he’s doing well, but he could have done better because he had the songs on the cd that could have won him even more admiration and success than he has had so far. It’s not that I want too much for him, it’s not that I’m not grateful for what he’s gotten so far, it’s just that it’s so unreasonable for RCA not to put out a couple of more and different singles, it’s not fair and it’s not sensible or logical, and I don’t get it, and I’ve heard all the justifications and spin but I don’t agree with it.

But it’s a deal with the devil to be sure.

Sassycatz – I seem to remember much controversy over the choice of CBTM at the time: very few Cook fans liked it much or supported the single choice. But I think people were reassured with the reasoning that tptb knew what they were doing and this would give him that elusive top 40 hit.

Or not – as it turned out.

What annoys me the most about it is that it totally and completely misrepresents him as a musician and added onto the TOML thing (which could easily have been explained away as the winner’s song) landed him with the image of an easy listening rocker, rather than the hard edged indie rocker, which he clearly is.

Who knows what they were about, but the implications aren’t positive, IMO.

As for RCA ‘“ I can’t make my mind up. Certainly they must want the man to succeed and make money. I feel that they must have chosen the singles that they thought had the best chance of establishing him. As I said LO seems to have done a good job, but CBTM was just dire and disastrous IMO.

I, of course, also have not a clue what RCA was thinking. My feeling is that 1) they are used to not trusting the songwriting prowess of their new Idols, so they bring in established songwriters who are proven in the industry to try and manufacture a hit. They haven’t seemed to waiver from this no matter the talents or past track record of the winner. 2) The newest Idol is not only trying to get a record out very fast, but like the other top ten, they are out on a major Idol tour during all of this, so most would not have the time or talent to get a marketable single out quickly under those time and work constraints. I give them that. Why Light On, though? Well, I think they 1) were somehow trying to replicate the whole “Billie Jean” phenomena by getting a Chris Cornell penned song. Granted Cornell didn’t write “Billie Jean” but he changed it enough so that it can stand independently. So, they were trying to catch lightening twice in a bottle. Plus, they figured — since Cornell was a favorite of David’s — that he might match David’s sensibilities. This is all my assumptions.

But, I have no explanation whatsoever for “Come Back to Me,” because at that point they could have seen that other songs on Cook’s CD were being praised and were stronger. I’d love to see the market research they did, if any that indicated that “people” thought that song was the next best release. Even the survey on Cook’s very own official web site rated other songs higher. There *has* to be another explanation because it’s clear David was not on board with it considering the accompanying (non) release of “Bar-ba-sol” to satisfy him.

many of the best selling albums of the last several years have had no hit singles ‘” eg. Barbra Streisand, Josh Groban, Andreas Bocelli, Michael Buble, plus albums by dave matthews band, kiss, metallica

All of these artists get played on radio stations though, whether it is Rock or AC or whatever, these artists still have songs out there.

I respectfully disagree. I have never heard Andrea Bocelli on the radio and I listen to the radio a lot cuz Im young…many stations not just one and it hasnt happened. I understand I am just one case but still, I dont think hes that type of artist especially because of the genre of music he sings. Its not very “radio friendly” these days.
I have heard Barbara Streisand but they mostly play her old hits.
Also, I am a huge Josh Groban fan and I think Ive only heard him like 5 times on the radio (in one radio station mind you) in all the years Ive been a fan. He is a great example of how you can achieve success without radio hit singles. He’s said it himself in interviews.
All of his albums have done very well and he has been able to tour extensively and many of his concerts are aired on PBS and sub sequentially put out DVD’s of said concerts which also sell well and are quite good. Why? Because he is one of those artists, like Adam who is very compelling live. He has a fantastic voice. In fact him and Adam should do a duet LOL their voices would blend very nicely especially with some harmonies. Josh has a very masculine yet sweet Baritone voice and Adam is a very high tenor…it would work
plus it would be something that would be interesting and would be out of both their “comfort zones” even though Adam doesnt really have one.

many of the best selling albums of the last several years have had no hit singles ‘” eg. Barbra Streisand, Josh Groban, Andreas Bocelli, Michael Buble, plus albums by dave matthews band, kiss, metallica

All of these artists get played on radio stations though, whether it is Rock or AC or whatever, these artists still have songs out there. Also, the artists you named all had big crossover hits at some point in there career, and have developed fan bases that have proven they would buy their albums year after year. An artist like Adam or Kris does not need smash singles like Jordin or Kelly, but they still need singles to do well to give their album staying power. Look at Archuleta, his big single Crush pushed him into very good early sales, but when the rest of his singles failed his album sales plummeted, because their was no new songs to bring in new artists. Carrie and Daughtry sold so much of their first albums because they had major radio hits. We aren’t in the 70s anymore where someone can be a singles or album artist, you need both to thrive to be a success, and then if that happens years from now Adam won’t need the support of singles and he can just sell boat loads of albums like Bon Jovi.

Who knows at this point, but I will say that the hiring of King also indicates to me RCA ‘s full support, as if I didn’t believe that before.

This is something I can’t get past when I read posts predicting Adam’s failure based on sales of his single. Expensive power operators like Jamie King don’t get brought on board for artists who are expected to tank. We might talk about what Adam’s sales look like to us so far, but RCA knows what the precise pre-order numbers are. And album sales will be what really matters, not singles.

Singles do not make money ‘” albums do. Adam is selling Albums ‘” that is a good thing.

I don’t understand the reasoning that singles do not make money. Jordin Sparks and Daughtry for instance have each sold 8+ million singles to date ‘” even at the old itunes rate of $0.99 that’s approximately $8 million in sales. Or roughly the equivalent of selling 800,000 standard itunes albums.

Well I missed the party yesterday but I just wanted to make a couple of points.
First off, it is important that an artists singles sell well and get radio play, I admit that but selling albums is as EQUALLY important and in this day and age it could go both ways in terms of success.
Jordin Sparks is a good example of how singles can only do so much. Her singles have been successful but because her album sales have not been as strong she has not been able to headline her own tour (probably because while there are peeps willing to download a single or two they are not willing to fork up fifty bucks or however much a ticket costs, which means her fan base is limited) and honestly she doesnt get nearly as much radio play as Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift right now even though her singles do well (with the exception of “No Air”) so basically her single sales keep her in the game but she is stuck doing small gigs or sharing the stage with other artists.
Daughtry on the other hand had STRONG album sales and has been able to tour on his own, but again because of the genre of music he sings he doesnt get as much radio air play as some of the pop artists yet he has been successful and is making money and that is as equally important. Artists make a lot of money off tours.
If Adams album does well I dont think radio stations will just ignore him because that would mean ppl want to hear his music so again one thing could lead to the other. Single sales might boost album sales or album sales might boost radio air play.
Adam’s presales seem to be doing very well and that is why he will most likely get to tour and as a fan that is important. Yes it would be nice for the radio to play his single more but I think that RCA is focusing on promoting the album. That being said THERE IS STILL time for his single to do well though especially after the AMA performance and all of the ones that will follow. Plus Oprah invited him to perform on her show…that in it of itself is a great accomplishment.
IMHO having a devoted fan base which I think he has, is more important than selling singles.
Radio play is important because of the amount of exposure it gives but there are other means out there.
I choose to remain optimistic. He is still garnering lots of attention especially from ppl in the business with him (as in other celebrities) and that is yet another important deciding factor in all of this.
Honestly Id be more worried for Kris. His album drops in 2 days.

Ryan just played a snipped of Danny’s new single on AT 40 (slept in, so didin’t hear LLD), and noted that he was going the country route.

Wow! Cool for Danny but surprised that Ryan would do that for a country song. Being on AI really does a body good. Go Danny!

Ryan’s station doesn’t focus on country, but seems that they can include some country(-ish) songs (appeared to be a Taylor Swift song on their playlist, for one). Danny’s single seems more country to me than country/pop, so not sure if it would work there. But nice that Ryan is mentioning it and pointing people to Danny’s official website.

Danny is in LA today (arrived sometime yesterday apparently), with an appearance later in the day sponsored by Ryan’s radio station (the wedding contest). Would love to see Ryan interview Danny on air next week, not sure if that is planned though. Danny appears about to go on the first leg of his radio tour with country music stations.

That’s exactly right, we don’t know what they are planning. I guess right after his debut on the Ama and the release of his album, we will hear about his tour and whom he’s touring with. There are going to be more media appearances and Adam Fever will be rampant. Adam is not your usual idol newbee, he has something that a lot of other idols don’t have, which is star power. He knows how to sell himself and his music, when he gets a chance. He’s charming and interesting, which makes people interested in him, even those who don’t like still talk about him. I don’t doubt for a second that the AMA appearance will be the beginning of Adam Lambert’s rise to fame. His ability to give memorable performances, is one of his best attributes, alone with being some very nice “eyecandy”.

I know nothing about the US music industry and take what people who are American say at face value. They indicate that an artist will never be viewed as truely successful without a huge radio hit.

I do think it will take a huge US radio hit for Cook to be consequently marketed over here, so I want one selfishly for that reason.

In the UK some of the biggest artists/album sellers – and the most highly regarded musicians – would rarely or never have a top 40 hit.

As for RCA – I can’t make my mind up. Certainly they must want the man to succeed and make money. I feel that they must have chosen the singles that they thought had the best chance of establishing him. As I said LO seems to have done a good job, but CBTM was just dire and disastrous IMO.

I don’t know, at this point, how much faith – if any – RCA actually had in Cook as a musician or song writer. They certainly wanted to milk his post AI popularity and they will certainly give him a second album, due to the success of the first.

To me, Cook is at heart an indie artist. The music should come first, with a couple of songs that stand out to appeal to a wider market, as in Greenday’s American Idiot. He and the band should therefore be free to develop their own musical identity, whilst relying on the label to find/identify those one or two songs.

I think that’s what they tried to do, but from the pov of Idol star rather than authentic musician and whilst I kind of understand that, it’s probably the thing that most pisses me off about how they viewed DC coming off Idol, especially in comparison to how they appear to have treated the current bunch.

Sorry to be so long and rambly – but at least I got that off my chest!

He can write music and yet they wouldn’t release a single song that HE wrote.

It also seems from reviews that Kris’s best songs are the ones he wrote, but instead of choosing one of those for a single, they went with the Scripts song. I am wondering if there is some sort of contractual agreement with the outside songwriters that their songs are released as singles?

Cook has done well enough to warrant a second album, which I suspect will be much stronger than his debut album.