ooh! 2 posts in 1 day!

OK-Since I do love most things Idol and country music-had to put this out there-apparently people are ENRAGED that Kristy Lee Cook, who finished, oh, 7th or 8th I think on Idol this season, is the 3rd contestant to sign a deal (aside from the #1 and #2 Davids). I say good for her, I think others will get signed too-but we have to remember that 19 Management/All the SONY/BMG labels (Arista, Sony, Jive, to name a few in the group) have 3 months to decide who to sign after the show-basically until the tour is over. They have "1st dibs" basically to OFFER to sign any of the Idols. I may be wrong, but I dn't think the Idol necessarily has to accept their deal (unless they are the winner of course-that is part of the deal!). SOOOOO....lets not get our panties in a wad about how more "talented" (after all, that's subjective!) guys and gals are not signed yet-they may not WANT a deal with 19E/Sony, and they may very well be working with other labels but won't be able to officially sign/announce until the tour is completed in the fall.

The other thing I find funny is the comments section on this particular blog-there seems to be a misconception that country music is "easier" to break into than other fields-i.e., the standard is lower, expectations not as high. Um, hello! Country fans expect a good product-no matter who you are! I would actually think pop/hip hop is EASIEST to break into-I mean, when songs about lip gloss poppin', laffy taffy, and peanut butter and jelly become insta-hits in that genre, country is usually a little more profound (I said generally-for every laffy taffy there is a honky-tonk badonkadonk around the corner as well). You may not have LASTING success with that kind of gimmick, but you'll make a bit of money for it.

Plus, I live in Nashville, and there's ALWAYS a story about record labels folding, deals going under, and there are plenty of folks playing Fan Fair, dives around town, airing videos on CMT, that will never have commercial success-despite being talented. So much of it is industry politics, and the fact that it IS hard to break in, no matter how good you are. I mean, Tim McGraw had a dud of an album out before he released Indian Outlaw and Kenny Chesney also released a debut that lacked hits initially-it took quite a bit of time and a couple of albums for them to achieve major superstardom, and now record labels usually drop you if your first album is a stinker in sales. So, for people that get exposure on Idol, they already have some recognition, and record labels know that they won't have to invest as much to get the name out there. Its still no guarantee you'll be successful, but you have a leg up on the other guy.

So, I'm sure most of the top 8 or so will get signed, we just may not hear about it right away if they are going to go with a label and management co. outside of the Idol family.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/idolchatter/2008/06/kristy-lee-sign.html#uslPageReturn