American Idols: Taylor Hicks, Katharine McPhee and Ruben Studdard Are Dropped by Labels

Former Idols Taylor Hicks, Katharine McPhee, and Ruben Studdard have all been dropped by their label. All three were under SONY BMG-the parent company to Columbia, Arista, J Records, Epic and RCA. In Hicks' case he says the separation is a mutual one.

"I've been a working musician my whole life," he stated. "Artistic freedom and control is an exciting prospect. The things that are most important to me is creating my art, performing it, and my fans."

Taylor Hicks' statement is a statement that many artists continue to make as they are dropped. The statement raises questions about the fundamentals of being an artist as well as what it takes to stay on top of the game. It also causes many to point the finger at a recession that has yet to be determined as real by some economists.

For label and marketing executives the "I just want to be me as an artist" philosophy can be somewhat annoying when the success of the organization is dependent on strong sales that are triggered by a massive appeal to audiences.

Taylor Hicks was such a favorite on A.I that he started a soul patrol revolution. Audiences loved his soulful voice and high energy performances. It was very obvious from the beginning that Hicks was a true lover of music and an actual musician as displayed by his wide vocal range and drifts. Even with his popularity, industry A&R's questioned his future success.

It was difficult to put Hicks in a box. This lone factor breaks the inital basic principal of marketing. Taylor Hicks was a white blues man with soul and colorful gray hair. His charming personality and raw talent might not have been enough for marketing directors to package and sell to a wide audience though.

For Hicks, Studdard and McPhee even the Idol machine couldn't save them. At the end of the day, the fans, radio, singles, videos and t.v appearances are irrelevant if they don't translate to high album sales.

Taylor Hicks' album was the first to not produce a hit single in A.I history but the album did respectively sell 700,000 copies which is more then what other artists are doing. Ruben Studdard's album, The Return, has only sold 236,000 copies. Katharine McPhee has only sold 365,500 copies since her release.

Part 1. The business of music - An indepth look inside the label: The Marketing perspective
True artists are artists because they love their craft. Perhaps they are blessed with a gift from God and ultimately create art to share their gift to the world as Hicks has described. By nature, artists do everything based on feelings and emotions. They are inspired by various factors and at times create art to inspire others. The problem with this theory is that a label is a company. It is an organization like any other business. All businesses are in business to generate profit and revenue.

The music business is primarily based on marketing. From a marketing perspective an artists' success is based on finding a target market and catering to that market and demographic. Marketing people who graduate from fancy expensive schools are drilled on the basics of cost production, mass appeal and net profit.

As mean as it sounds the marketing people don't care about your feelings, your inspirations and "where you're now at in your life" -as most artists like to say after they've changed their style. They could care less about human qualities because they operate based on logic and numbers. Like in the case of Britney Spears and many artists if you come out a certain way and build a fan base, when you drastically change your style or image you risk losing your audience.

This often makes the marketing person the artists' number one enemy because the artist as Hicks stated "wants to be in control over their image and what they put out to the fans." Ironically that sentence is the actual job description of a marketing person.

This creates the usual situation of the artist feeling limited and suppressed to express their true feelings and who they are. It also annoys the marketing person because the artist is refusing to compromise or follow their direction based on projected sales.

Unfortunately for the artists, business decisions that are vital to the success of labels are based on the clever strategies acquired in college by the marketing people. Those strategies have nothing to do with an artists' feelings.

In the end the marketing person will usually report to their superiors saying the artist is "not marketable." For an artist, not having marketing or label support is the same as being left for dead at a game preserve. Its hard to stay alive.

For Taylor Hicks, the separation from a major label is a gain of control and artistic expression. "So as one door closes, a new one opens for 2008 with more excitement for all my fans," he said.

With his enormous fan base from A.I, Hicks can afford to still be happy. He effectively uses his myspace page to market himself. Myspace has become an intricate part of marketing for music, film and politics. Hicks has over 53,000 friends and 8 million views on his page.

If Hicks decided to make his own live album and sell it on-line to his friends for $10.00 dollars then he would pocket $530,000 dollars. He would Keep the bulk of that because he has full ownership and no expenses. At a label Hicks wouldn't see a fraction of that.

Ruben Studdard continues to perform independently and Katharine McPhee has been busy acting in three different films. At least A.I has generated a fan base for the three alums that won't easily die out. For some artists, its not that easy. They don't understand why they are being dropped.

Part 2. Blame it on the recession? Yes.. No...Maybe So?
Some economist think the music business is suffering because America is experiencing a recession. Alan Greenspan predicted this last year. He eluded to the fact that since 2001 the American economy had been progressing in an upward cycle. "When you get this far away from a recession invariably forces build up for the next recession, and indeed we are beginning to see that sign," Greenspan told AP.

This maybe true but the film business has not been affected by the recession. Some retailers and other organizations continue to generate more and more income. If we are in a recession and retailers are feeling the hit then the logical thing to do is to price competitively. If consumers are not spending the money they used to on buying C.D's then why has there been an increase in the cost of C.D's? In a recession prices cannot be high. Distributors should price competitively because retailers will compete to carry and outsell the product.

To increase profit you have to increase revenue and reduce cost. This is where some staff come in. Many labels were forced to downsize and layoff employees who were not generating revenue for organizations. Excessive staff is a risky and costly luxury. No more assistant to the assistants and things of that sort. The cost of production which may be employed by basic principals of cost accounting and budgeting allows one to see that over-budgeting albums and high costs of production will lead to failure.

This helps to reduce the fluctuation of mediocre artists and celebrities who simply think they have the J-Lo factor of getting a contract based on their name. Although Jennifer Lopez is not the strongest vocalist she is a very likable talented entertainer and dancer that has star quality. She had enough of what it takes to attract a huge fan base and generate millions of dollars in revenue and merchandising for Sony. Today those kinds of risks are no longer being taken.

Part 3. Blurry Vision?
Sadly, many artist do not have an accurate perception of themselves and their worth to the label. If an artist sold 5 million albums five years ago it does not mean they are capable of even selling 5 thousand copies today. Lately artists will put out a required single and then go back to the label and demand more money to finish their albums.

In a recession this is a delusional way of thinking. If your single isn't garnering proper radio play or interest you are ultimately a risk to the company. At that point the label has power over you and you as the artist are at their mercy. Owners are being conservative about all expenses and costs.

One of the biggest issues analysts recognize is is that their is a credit crunch. There is a decline in available credit from the federal reserve and we are also living in uncertainty. This means that owners cannot borrow the millions that they the used to in order to create and put out albums.

Realistically everyone that has a label is not ballin' like athletes. We are in an election year of uncertainty people. In any country consumers spending and production is decreased when people don't know what the political climate will be.

With all these factors considered some people still don't get it. Recently fans might see an artist drop a single and a video and then disappear without releasing an album. To labels, those artists haven't grasped that they cannot afford to be so financially demanding in this current economy. If your single is not climbing up the billboard or infiltrating the radio waves you are not inspiring investor confidence what so ever. While you're on your phone making demands to the label as you carelessly spend your album budget stuntin'-the label and marketing people are killing whatever buzz they might have created for you. They may even simply shelf your album.

Let 'em go, Let 'em go?
As we continue to reduce the cost of production in a recession, executives are encouraged to eliminate producers who still demand enormous fees per track in the fiscal year. These producers may feel that they are so cold that the labels, A&R's, and marketing staff needs them more then they need the label.

Too preoccupied with blogging duties and dismantling what was sent from heaven; these fanatical producers may proudly go to retail stores unwrap the packaging (grinning from ear to ear) only to astonishingly discover that their tracks have been replaced. They may also invite all their family and friends to a movie premiere that they thought they were on- only to realize that they did not make the cut. For the music business the recession is very real.

Even with all of that said, on-line business continues to break records in sales. On December 10th, on-line sales exceeded 900 million dollars. Last year the Internet generated 29 billion dollars in sales. Whether people like it or not the Internet is dominating both radio and television. Economist are saying the Internet has become the most powerful medium in society. Labels and artists must learn to adjust to this rapid change by consulting with their marketing professionals who understand the trend.