'American Idol' fifth-season winner Taylor Hicks dropped by J Records

That's interesting ... I didn't know that recording artists were traded like pro basketball players.

TayTay will do fine, he just wasn't mainstream enough.  Also, just goes to show that the people's voice was heard and they made him a winner, but those outside of the AI world didn't catch on.  What the AI brass wants is the non-AI fan to embrace them and buy their music, but how will they ever hear them when radio doesn't play them?  Remind you of anyone else?

Tay will do just fine, all he really wanted was to travel in a tour bus, and he has had that dream.  He's also building his own club in Alabama, and I'm sure he's happy to be away from the corporate and evil Idol machine.  Best of luck to TayTay, I still love ya man!

As someone who's followed Taylor closely since his audition on AI  (including 11 gigs up and down the Eastern seaboard, a few brief meetings, and three hugs in the same day), I'm coming out of the woodwork again to set the record straight.

Taylor was not dropped from J Records.  Those of us who have been in his camp since Day One have been "connecting the dots" for more than 6 months, and those dots formed the picture that it was the other way around: Taylor bought out of his contract.   As reported in this link below ...

http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=e08bcb21-1e7b-417a-ae72-aee7d758d32c

... other Idol finalists have been let out of their contract, but Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks have become the first two who are free agents -- meaning, this was Taylor's decision. 

As he had written and copyrighted, produced, played at least three instruments on, arranged the music for, and sung on two independent albums ("In Your Time" and "Under the Radar") prior to his crowning on AI (you can check them out via his myspace page), we had assumed that Taylor had kissed J Record goodbye for creative reasons.  And probably for virtually no radio play for his great, self-titled CD -- a tale unto itself.

In his own words, and being the gentleman that he always is, Taylor says that the parting of the ways was mutual:

Taylor Message at MySpace

For Taylor and for Katherine -- artists and performers who refuse to be shoved into molds -- Idol was but a stepping stone, a means of propelling them both into the public eye.  Despite their ill treatment by the Idol machine and their labels, they are having the last laugh.

As I've told my husband, the die-hard Kat fan the moment that Taylor won, Kat is going to have a long, wonderful, and multi-faceted career.  He'll be able to see her in film, in magazines, and in concerts and should not worry about her.  Taylor has but one focus, one driving force since his childhood, and that is to make and perform music that touches the human soul.  Now that he's free of J Records, he'll continue to do that.   And I'll continue to follow him forever.

Thanks for letting set things straight.

Peace,

Kat (yeah, I'm a Kat myself and have met your Kat briefly twice.  Lovely girl!!!)

First of all Good l;uck to Taylor. But nowhere in that article does it talk about Taylor buying out of his contract. The decision was mutual to some degree I'm sure but it is obvious that J wanted him gone. The difference in "dropped" or "mutually parted ways" is simply semantics. J records did not want to be involved with Taylor anymore and so he is gone. Taylor wanted more freedom and they were not goint ot give it to him so it is to his benefit to be cut loose.

BTW the paragraph you are referring to with "free agents" is this one.

While other Idol artists, such as Justin Guarini, have been cut loose by their Idol labels, Hicks and Studdard are the first winners to become free agents.

The operative term there is "winners". They are not making a distinction between cut loose and becoming free agents. They are the same thing.

Again Good Luck to him. This may be a more comfortable situation for him in the long term. Hopefully he will find a situation he is happy with. But I do find it interesting that the SP is on high alert running around to any site that mentions the fact that Taylor was "dropped" and tries to put their spin on it. And that is what it is, spin. The facts are that J records wanted him gone and he is. If they didn't he would still be there no matter how his fans try to spin it.

noone is making you stay here looney

looney, it's good to know that your crassness and ignorance is not generally mirrored in the Kat McPhee fan base, or that poor girl's repuation would come to be linked with the likes of you.  "You are the company that you keep."

uplink, I did not come here looking to put a "spin" on this situation.  My husband is a member of this site and he pointed out this thread to me -- I did not start this thread.  Your site owner either initiated or allowed this general Idols winners/contestants forum to exist, and one of your own members began this thread.   I simply responded to it.

There have been signs going back more than 6 months that Taylor had bought out of his contract.  What these are, I will not go into here; you would not be interested in reading them.  But they were there and they were real.    I have followed Taylor very closely and am well-respected in his "community".    While he never issued a statement verbatim saying that he had bought out of his contract, a number of his fans -- me, included -- who had watched and listened very carefully, used their God-given brains to arrive at the logical conclusion, months ago, that he bought out of his contract, for reasons which he stated in his myspace page (quoted above in my first post in this thread).

For Taylor to say that the parting of the ways was mutual, my well-considered take -- and the general consenus among his fan base -- is that "mutual" means that he initiated the split, his people engineered the details of itt, and the label agreed to it.   Part of that agreement, IMO, was for the label to say that it was mutual.  This opinion, also, is supported by indications of prior events.

On the boards on which I post, the Taylor community is generally respectful and often supportive of Kat McPhee.   We aim to respect and emulate the man we have chosen to follow, who is much more than a rare and genuine talent.  He is an extremely generous, compassionate individual who has done much to benefit the community, even when he was a flat-broke musician  -- both directly and through inspiration of donations and projects benefiting seriously ill children, expectant mothers, and our troops overseas, among others. 

Kat seems to possess many of these same qualities.  It would benefit Kat to remember that, when you speak up in her name, whether in public where you can be overheard or on an Internet board, you represent her.   Again, "You are the company that you keep." 

Kaitlin, I really don't want to get into this but to me the news yesterday about Kat being dropped from BMG as well only confirms that Taylor was droppedl. Look at it from the outside please and not from the inside of Taylor's circle. 3 Idols have left BMG in the past two weeks, Ruben, Taylor, and Kat. It is acknowledged that in Ruben's and in Kat's case they were dropped by their fans. Why is it so important for the SP to spin this that he bought himself out? Face it he was dropped too. That's how the world sees it and that perception is all that matters. BMG is cleaning house and dropped 3 under performing Idols who may have had different ideas about their careers than the label did. As far as knowing about it for six months, all the signs were there in Kat's case as well. This has been planned for quite sometime by all parties but it had to wait till now for contractual reasons. You are looking at all of these events and seeing what you want to see. He initiated it, he worked out the details and they agreed to it. That is all speculation from someone who wants to believe it, we in the Kat fan base could do the same thing but I think that we have chosen to just admit the truth and not worry about the perception because in the end none of it really matters but the SP seems intent on trying to manipulate that perception to his benefit.

In the end it really doesn't matter one bit whether he was dropped or he bought himself out. The point is he was not wanted by the label going forward. I think that you and the rest of the folks set on trying to spin this, and that is exactly what you are doing because why would it matter to you what a Kat site says about it, should just set yourself free and admit it. Taylor was dropped, Ruben was dropped and Kat was dropped. It really doesn't matter the exact scenario. Hopefully all of them will be better off because of it in the long run.

One final thing, I guess you don't post at MJ's then if you believe that Kat is always spoken of positively by the SP.