If Jimmy has some more Homes up his sleeve, they should just make a quick album that the public would love and buy.  But no-o-o, guy singers have to be songwriters.  Being a boysinger would be unmanly.

Naaah, it’s that people who wanted to write their own songs before they went on Idol usually still want to write their own songs after they finish Idol.

It’s not strictly gender-based: McCreery never touted himself as a songwriter and cheerfully recorded what Mercury Nashville gave him; Skylar Laine talked on the show about writing songs and is writing on her demos, and my impression was that Elise Testone was writing, too. Crystal Bowersox certainly was committed to doing her own writing.

Yes, it is speculation, but based on some interesting coincidences and commentaries.  I believe I acknowledged in both posts that we are speculating and don”t really know what goes on behind closed doors hence the reference to “theories”.

This is a wrong move. January/feb album sales never been very good even if the album reach number one. Music is the same like movies. Release date is very important. Album that release from Oct-Dec usually sell the most in a year period.

P2 gets the 300k contract, so it’s already paid for even if you consider label related expenses, which I’m sure some of it is included in the prize. Don’t forget the sales of the Idol journey albums, both physical and digital, then all the digital tracks P2 sold. That’s another 115k+204k=319k sales, although some of them were made before the contract, but still, money for the label.

And I was also taking into account the sales of the debut album. It would still sell at least 100k in its lifetime for sure, it’s a very conservative number and it should sell at least that, and if the promo budget is minimal because they gave up on him, it would still make money for the label.

First off, I don’t think Phillip would unilaterally change the timeframe for the release of his album.  Prior to this interview he was consistently stating that his album would be released some time in November/December.  If the release date has been pushed back, it is TPTB at Interscope who made that decision and advised Phillip of that fact prior to the interview.

Second, why is it so preposterous that Jimmy and Interscope might want to develop Phillip as an artist.  As a sound engineer, Jimmy worked with John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen.  He also produced albums for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Stevie Nicks, and Patti Smith.  Jimmy is very familiar with the type of artist that Phillip wants to be.  Yes, Jimmy is in the business to make money, but at a certain age, a lot of successful people give a thought to the legacy they’re leaving behind.  Perhaps, Jimmy thinks Phillip has the potential to be an iconic artist, and he wants to be viewed as the producer that nurtured that talent to greatness.  (BTW, I am not making the claim that Phillip will be a great artist.)

Third, I don’t see Jimmy automatically writing Phillip off simply because he might be “difficult” to work with.  Jimmy knew Phillip was “stubborn” about his artistic identity early on in AI.  Yet that didn’t stop Jimmy from using various tactics to get Phillip to focus on winning AI.  Moreover, he gave Phillip a song that was guaranteed to get him into the Top 2 (“We’ve Got Tonight”), and another song that helped him clinch the win.  I have always thought based on Jimmy’s comments and actions throughout the season that Phillip was the contestant that Jimmy wanted to win the AI title.   

Last, why is it a given that the failure of some idols’ debut albums is due to the timing of their launch and not some other reason, such as the fact the album wasn’t any good or that the idol didn’t appeal to the buying public.  For example, Katharine McPhee’s album may not have done well because it was different from the way she portrayed herself as an artist on AI.   

By the same token, what has been sold will not receive a royalty until units sold royalties equate to more than the guarantee amount paid. This is how I have always understood it.

It was strongly implied by some former winners that the coronation song and other AI performance royalties aren’t recoupable, so that’s why I’m not counting those on the Interscope ledger. The EPs are a more open question, since they haven’t been released in every year.

Recoupment will, of course, be applied against the actual album.  But those advances are also exclusive of recording costs, so there’s another outlay that would have to be defrayed.

At any rate, I’m really not disagreeing that Interscope has the ability to minimize losses and maybe even make a small profit with minimal Q1 promotion.  I just think the numbers help frame the discussion.

I have a feeling interscope might be having a hard time dealing with PP when it comes to music (I hope I’m wrong but knowing PP during AI he love to “stick to his guns”). What happens to a new employee that doesn’t follow the company’s rules but prefers to do his own thing?

i dont think this is p2´s decision. He said, “i guess” they are trying to give me more time to make an album that represents me.

The label right now wants p2 promote the single home as much as he can, he has a really busy schedule until october with no days off. It would be easy 4 them to took one free day and record more raw songs.

February is not a good idea, as he said: “i hope” people still look 4 his album.

As I said, you may be right.  Until the album comes out we won’t know if Home is on it.  But if it is, and I bet it will be, then there is every reason to believe it counts towards the advance.  Why wouldn’t it be on the album is maybe a better question. I doubt the label is quite that benevolent and desireous of giving PP more money than it can get away with. In the end, it really makes no difference to me – just interesting debate lol.

To make things worse, by the time the album drops, there will have been 2
full seasons of competitive talent shows, The Voice S3 and XF S2, and a
new season of The Voice S4 and Idol S12 underway.

Maybe the X Factor, but The Voice will have no influence what so ever. Nobody seems to get invested in those contestants, since its more about the judges-their album sales aren’t good on that show at all. With the X Factor, its also more about the judges, and based on the first season, people aren’t that invested in the X Factor contestants compared to idol. But I think they will be a little better than The Voice as far as ANY contestant success-which the Voice fails at.

You’re right, at first Carrie had more of a cautious approach to songwriting and was more comfortable singing the work of more established writers. On her first album there’s just one co-write, a song about her hometown. Over time she gained more confidence in her songwriting abilities and did more of it for subsequent albums but I don’t ever see Carrie pulling a Taylor Swift and having sole writing credits for every song on an album. Something like that doesn’t seem like a priority for her.

I am really wondering about this January/February date and how recent a development it is. I guess that ad for “FUN & CATCHY, with big sing-along CHORUSES” was a bust or maybe a turning point? Feud or not the ad didn’t really go over well and maybe the reaction caused a rethink of the album’s musical direction?

durbesque: They were Carrie’s exact words.  I don’t follow her, but I think it was on that songwriters’ panel that she said it.  She sang a song that I never heard before, and her voice was astoundingly gorgeous.  I should become a fan really.

Though Carrie isn’t exactly the kind of person to toot her own horn as a songwriter, I don’t think she’s ever said “she doesn’t write many of her songs, because other people write better songs than she does.” Here’s the full video from the CMA Songwriters Series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aztpwdfBf8s I don’t think there’s any point at which she says she doesn’t write many of her own songs. She was obviously very respectful of the professional songwriters/friends she was performing with that night, whom she’s learned a lot from. They returned the favor, with Hillary Lindsey commenting that Carrie may not be writing every week and all the time but she writes a lot. 

What Carrie usually does say when asked about how important songwriting is to her is what Eilonwy quoted, which is that though she enjoys writing and takes pride in cowriting some of her songs, she’d be stupid to ignore the work of the incredible songwriters in Nashville. She reiterated that comment this week at the #1 party for Good Girl, where she was asked if she feels like she doesn’t get enough credit as a songwriter, considering she’s now cowritten 7 #1 country hits. Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKIYLpZauDM&feature=player_embedded

As far as P2 waiting until 2013 to release his new album, if that’s what it takes for him to get comfortable with cowriters and producers to come up with a version of himself he & his label people can believe in, then that’s what’s important. A quickie album loaded with non-cowrites that turn into singles might just delay the inevitable even if the singles were hits for P2. A December album would still be a rush job. And, there are P2′s health issues to consider. A Feb/March launch would give him the opportunity to promote 1st week sales on AI though he obviously wouldn’t have the holiday window to accrue big sales over a month or 6 weeks.

Maybe a compromise could be to release an EP during the holiday season featuring Home and maybe a couple more originals/covers everybody can agree on, with a full length album coming later. It seems like the new contracts provide for that option, right?