I heard about this last week. Seems Rueben was dropped and Taylor left via mutual agreement. The reason you never hear him on the radio except in select markets (mainly in the south) is because this label has never promoted him. His CD was out for 2 months before they even bothered to release a single. Normally the single is released, gets some airplay to build up interest in the album, and then the album is released & people buy it as they are familiar w/ at least the single. And then they never released a video. Heck - all the non-winners from season 5 got a video, but not the winner? Taylor has made several comments for months - never anything negative about his label, but small things that indicated his dissatisfaction. Artistic control is very important to him and he was sort of labelled as "difficult" when he fought to get some of his own songs on his CD. Well, reviewers indicate those are the best songs on the CD. Daughtry got to put his own songs on his CD, why not the winner? As far as sales, he didn't sell as much as some previous AI winners, but he also won in an era where music buying habits started changing (downloading one song instead of buying a CD), and he still went platinum DESPITE no single, no video, no airplay. Jordin Sparkes - her low sales I think are indicative of the changing CD buying market. There will always be exceptions for super-popular CDs, like that Carrie Underwood one. But Taylor's CD was one of the top sellers of the year overall, despite his supposedly "poor" showing. Anyway, the fan base is very pleased as we've not been happy about how he was being treated by the label anyway. Here's Taylor's announcement from his site:
A statement from Taylor: To all my fans and The Soul Patrol, I want to take a moment to talk about the recent news that my label and I have mutually parted ways. The important thing for all of you to remember is that I’ve been a working musician my whole life. This is turning the page on a new chapter of my career. 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. With the momentum that all of you have created over the years, Taylor Hicks is not going to stop anytime soon. I’ve started working on the new album, writing and scheduling exciting collaborations. The DVD, Whomp at the Warfield, is in it’s final stages, and will be released soon. So as one door closes, a new one opens for 2008 with more excitement for all my fans than ever before. Sit tight, because the best is yet to come!
For those who don't like him - well, not everyone likes every singer. But I must say seeing him live is entirely different from listening to the CD. And the CD is good, but only a handful of songs are really Taylor's style. You can tell when he performs which songs he likes and which he doesn't, and he changes it up live quite a bit. His personal style doesn't come thru in that CD like it does in the 2 he released prior to Idol. OK, well, I think I've said enough here....
Taylor Hicks dropped from his record label
Quote:
and very much packed/sold out. When we were waiting for our car from the valet there were many groups chatting away that they were moving on to his next concert I guess basically just following the bus and they were everyday normal looking people, it was funny!
Linear Mode
