thirdtime: In your opinion, do you think Interscope is waiting to release a new single based on if all these promo spots will increase her sales or not?

If I was going to guess, I’d suspect that Interscope’s original plan is to release a second single when Reinhart tours, since that’s the time to get her out to radio stations again. But there’s not a lot of budget left to promote that single. The rest of Reinhart’s team seems to be working on making the case that people really do want to hear her music (look! it’s in a movie! listen! it’s on a TV show! see! Lollapalooza!), so that it’d be worthwhile giving a second single more active label support. 

A big piece of the puzzle is going to be who she tours with. If she can land an opening spot with somebody big, a single’s likely to get more push. If she’s put on the small-clubs-and-condo-rec-rooms tour plan that Jason Castro got with his debut, I wouldn’t count on much.

(If I were in artist management, I’d definitely cry a lot. And drink heavily. They’re all so adorable, and yet there’s only so much one can do for them.)

shamrock quoting a RidgeFest local: Who is James Durbin anyway and why would I want to pay twenty bucks to see an American Idol loser?

Funny, I was asking myself exactly this question a few minutes ago, as Durbin’s playing one of my favorite local venues tonight, but $21.70 with fees for two bands is a little higher than the usual ticket prices there. I’ll probably go for it because it’s a chance to write about taking some of these dudes seriously as musicians and I’ve been pounding that shoe on the podium a lot lately.

“Funny, I was asking myself exactly this question a few minutes ago, as Durbin’s playing one of my favorite local venues tonight, but $21.70 with fees for two bands is a little higher than the usual ticket prices there. I’ll probably go for it because it’s a chance to write about taking some of these dudes seriously as musicians and I’ve been pounding that shoe on the podium a lot lately.”

I eagerly await your review!

Interscope may not be responsible for how Free performed on radio-but aren’t they responsible for choosing (or at the very least, helping to choose) which songs are released as singles? It’s not that I don’t like Free- or her next single Oh My- but I don’t see what market either of them fit into.

If it was easy to pick songs that radio stations will play then everybody would have a hit single.

Free isn’t the most radio friendly song, but Haley’s voice is so unique that it’s going to take a lot of effort to find a song that fits with today’s music, but also allows Haley to showcase that uniqueness.

I would be less worried for Haley if she were signed to an indy label. Interscope is a flagship label for UMG, so the expectations are high.

Scotty was the first success for the AI/UMG partnership. I think they were hoping that Pia or Haley would be the first pop success. It looks like both girls lost that race to P2.

I doubt that Pia is a consideration for Interscope at this point.  IIRC the standard Idol contract for S10 stated a time limitation of 1 year to put out an album.  The contract locks in the contestants for many years, but only at the option of the recording company so that as each renewal comes up, UMG can exercise the option or not.  She should be coming up for renewal if she hasn’t already.  Despite the fact that Pia still shows up on Interscopes site as an artist signed to them, I would be surprised if even another single is forthcoming, much less an album or that her next option is picked up.  Here’s hoping I’m wrong but there has been nothing I know of from Interscope where Pia is concerned for a long time.  Jessica will get a chance because she is the runner up but I don’t know that she has proven yet that she can sell records. I think Haley may have reason for concern because her renewal will be coming up too.  Let’s hope I’m wrong.

I recall both Pia and Haley signing before the AI10 tour began last year, about June 2011. So both their options have already come up. Looks like we’ll know by the end of this year about their future with the label.

I think the 1 year is to put out an album but IDK how long after the album a renewal is due.

Pulling out my Musician’s Business & Legal Guide required less energy than what I ought to be doing (which involves slicing onions). It turns out that the option period is set by contract: the label has X number of months from artist’s delivery of the master recording for the prior album (so, not the album release date!) to decide whether to pick up the next option. Then the artist has Y number of months from option renewal to deliver the master for the next album. I’ve heard “one year” as a common time period for X, but it’s not at all graven in stone.

So Reinhart’s got a while before her option has to be decided on, since I doubt she delivered the master before March 2012. So much depends on what Interscope expected and what feedback they’re getting. All other things being equal, I’d release Oh My! as a single, pushing the B.o.B. connection. But I’d wait until there are tour plans.

Toscano reputedly got routed to an artist development deal, so the contractual time frames are probably different. She’s been hinting about releasing another single in September, with yet another title that sounds like an angry-survivor song. Perhaps her experiences in artist-development-limbo will finally allow her to sing that sort of sentiment with the edge it needs.

Thanks for filling in the blanks – makes more sense now.  I guess even though all contestants sign a deal beforehand that outlines recording deals for all placements, nothing prevents the label offering a different deal hence the artist development route we assume Pia has gone.  If your choice is no deal or a different one it’s a no brainer.  I guess Idol/19 went along.