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http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/01/katharine-mcphe.html
Another Idol label deal bites the dust. Hollywood Insider has learned that Katharine McPhee is the latest former contestant to part ways with her record company. Like season 2 winner Ruben Studdard and season 5 champ Taylor Hicks, who were signed to J and Arista Records, respectively, a rep for RCA Records confirms that McPhee is no longer on the label's roster, adding that, "Katharine is going to record her next album on her own." McPhee’s self-titled debut charted at a promising No. 2 in February 2007, but it never reached gold status. Sources close to McPhee complain the label didn’t support the album — but Idol Phatigue seems to have conquered McPheever. Still, she shouldn’t lose all hope: The singer, who is managed by Guy Oseary, makes her first feature-film appearance (opposite Anna Faris) in I Know What Boys Like later this year, and we hear she's already in talks with another label.
As for this recent spate of Idol exits (we double-checked, and deals for Clay Aiken and Fantasia are still intact), a rep for the RCA Music Group (which includes Arista, RCA, and J Records) tells Insider, “After six seasons, we are proud of the eight artists on the roster who started their careers on the show. With respect to Taylor, we have an understanding that he will come back to us to play music once he’s finished writing his new material.”
Looks like those Foster stories with WB may be coming true afterall.
Good Riddance RCA
Funny how differently a story can be spun. This is the same story for both Katharine and Taylor but these are the headlines I get in the same google alert:
Katharine McPhee: the latest Idol to go indie By Shirley Halperin
American Idol’s Taylor Hicks Dropped From J Records By Matt
I hope this is good news but it depends - if it really was Katharine's choice to try to package herself for the same market as Britney and Avril and Rihanna and the rest and not RCA's then the problem remains. At least the problem as I see it. I want her to just be Katharine and make an album that really showcases her voice and her talent as a musical interpreter and improvisor which would suggest something jazzier and bluesier than any of the top 40 markets she aimed at before. She is much bigger than any single musical genre or marketing niche and any attempts to force her into one will result in a mediocre album.
Leaving RCA may or may not have any affect on how she is packaged and presented to the public next time so this could be good or bad news or just not important at all. The big question is Who will she be working with next?
I guess this is why she was introduced at the Orange Bowl as "recording artist and actress" rather than "RCA recording artist". I don't think RCA did much for her after the initial release of her album. I think they are really being hit by CD sales dying, which is hurting the entire industry, although some artists are still selling CD's, the number of artists with successful sales are declining. I think she only had a one year contract anyway, so it is just conjecture as to who decided not to continue. She did state to the effect that she would be working with David Foster and it didn't seem reasonable that that would be with RCA since he is with a different record company. So, it sounds like this has been in the works for a while and Katharine has been well aware of it. I just hope we get kept up to date on what's happening with her. Who ever she ends up with will be awfully lucky, I'm sure.
From Ken Barnes at USAToday
Another Idol has left the BMG family of labels. Shortly after the confirmation of Ruben's and Taylor's exits, Katharine joins the list. Direct from a BMG spokesperson: "Katharine McPhee has moved on to support her other entertainment activities."
This would presumably include movies, TV, etc., although I wouldn't be surprised if she made an album somewhere along the line for another label.
She has so many options!
If Foster is a music producer, he can work for any label, no? So even if she works with him, it could be under the aegis of any label out there. I keep reading things that make it sound like working with him means she'll be with this or that label. And to me, trying to market her as an edgy babe/R&B diva is not going to fly. When she sings stuff that lets her voice be heard and her personality come through, stuff she feels a connection to and can wring all kinds of emotion out of, she'll find her audience. Maybe because of the OTR connection I always think of Judy Garland, and how when her career was winding down and her voice was going, she could still connect with her fans because of the way she just poured herself into her music and they responded to it. K. doesn't need a big rich label and pricey, trendy producers to do that. She just needs the right songs and the right single choices. Today's pop market is such a crap shoot. The most disparate material clicks with audiences and hits the charts and goes crazy. There's no way to predict it, so you may as well just do what you do best and see what happens.
Entrepreneur
This posting was received in my email submitted by Kat's Yahoo fan club Well i knew this was in the works!!! Katharine McPhee Jonathan Cohen, N.Y. Katharine McPhee has joined fellow "American Idol" contestants Taylor Hicks and Ruben Studdard as former members of the Sony BMG family. The artist has parted ways with RCA after a solitary album, a 2007 self-titled affair that debuted at No. 2 on The Billboard 200. A label source confirmed McPhee's departure, which was first reported by Entertainment Weekly. McPhee struggled to connect with a wide audience with her debut, which was led by the single "Over It." That track topped out at No. 22 on Billboard's Top 40 Mainstream chart and No. 29 on the Hot 100. The album has sold just 366,000 units in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. As McPhee told Billboard last year, she quickly realized the art of the compromise when it came to record the album, fresh off the road from the "American Idols Live" tour. McPhee fell particularly in love with two tracks from producer Ryan Leslie, but then they wound up not making the cut. "I'm learning that's the way it goes in this business," she said. "You give and you take." In contrast to "Idol" stars like Bo Bice and Hicks, who had already spent years pursuing a music career, McPhee's prior experience was limited to musical theater. Once in album-making mode, she also struggled with putting her own stamp on material that had been submitted by veteran songwriters. "The demos, it's so hard once you hear whoever is singing to get that out of your head, especially for me, being new to recording," she said. Being able to craft songs with outside collaborators like Danja, Babyface and Kara DioGuardi generated "the memory of where we were when we were writing the song. There's a kind of history behind it."
Of course this news shouldn't surprise anyone. Kat and RCA have had "creative differences" from the start. And it's common knowledge that the RCA execs weren't impressed by album sales. But I doubt Kat's management appreciate it coming out this way. There are two sides to every story, so stay tuned for what Kat has to say. As always, I'll post any official info I get as soon as it comes in.
I think we have all known since the Clive speech on Idol last year that relations with Clive and Katharine were not good.Her leaving RCA was speculated for a while now and probably Warner will pick her up, and I'm sure her management will move her forward
This is old news in that I believe the decision to break with RCA was made quite a while ago. But the contract officially ran through the end of the year, hence the timing. This is also why we were tasked with the promotion of OCAYF with no label support,; it was essentially an "indie" effort.
RCA apparently has no interest in "nurturing". Not that I blame them; they're in business to make money, and the way the CD business is going lately only top sellers are money makers, Major labels are dinosaurs of the 21st century music biz, and may be on the wayh to extinction.
movin on katharine wil do just fine
Katharine will do just fine under the tutelage of David Foster. Remember, Elliott Yamin's CD was slowly falling down the charts until his AI appearance. That was his only saving grace!
Even though I knew it was a one album contract, in the back of my mind I was hoping that there would be a renewal for a second CD. I know that a lot of people are down on RCA, but it is so difficult for a recording artist to be successful without a record label behind them. I keep thinking of Shannon Curfman who at 14 peaked at #3 on the Billboard blues chart after having her already recorded CD picked up by Arista. After that, the big man at Arista wanted her to go pop, but she wanted to stay true to her music, so she quit the label. Well now she is 23 and finally has released her second album as an indie. What a struggle, and now the promotion and everything is up to her. I wish her well. I really hope Katharine is picked up by another company. Of course, maybe she is going to devote her time to acting or married life or whatever. I wish she would blog us so we wouldn't worry. I would really like to see another album some day. She has a beautiful voice.
I am disappointed that she has parted company with RCA. because musical giant Clive Davis did offer her a great opportunity to make her dreams come true. Katharine is still in the early stages of a lifetime career, she has already experienced much since Idol and now she is moving on.... To maybe another musical giant David Foster, "We're about to do an album together and I'm so excited about that..." Foster's company, 143 Records(Atlantic) includes his own discoveries Josh Groban and Michael Buble. Or could she be considering Maverick Records which is headed by her manager, Guy Oseary. BTW, Alex Rodriguez just signed with Oseary. Katharine has already told us, "This next year is going to be amazing musically and I look forward to sharing with you all very soon" And this Kat fan can't wait!!!
I guess I'm not that disappointed because I saw it coming, so I'm "Over It". Now (in my opinion) it's critical for Kat that her acting career be successful if she wants to still make an impact as a singer.
Here's a very detached reaction from Simon Cowell:
hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/01/simon-cowell-re.html
Cowell also spoke about Taylor Hicks, Ruben Studdard, and Katharine McPhee no longer having record deals. "It's a reflection on the unpredictability of the record business. Fortunately, we got it right more than we got it wrong.... There's no scientific way to explain what happens. It's a reality show and what happens at the end is also reality."
GREAT PHOTO!
From IDF:
They talked about Kat on MTV news during TRL. The guy was saying how she was dropped and they showed her album cover....then they said how there should be no worries cuz of IKWBL, and they showed a clip of her interview onset, and of some of the filming.
It was like one of the main stories too...they only had 2 stories, one about Brit and one about Kat
Overall the coverage of this is far more positive in regards to Kat and her future than it has been for Taylor.
Great story from Blender:
www.blender.com/news/comments.aspx
Mourning Katharine McPhee's Label Departure WHO: Katharine McPhee WHAT: "Not Ur Girl" WHY: We were less than shocked when the ax came down on American Idol clowns Taylor Hicks and Ruben Studdard earlier this week, leaving the pair label-less and destined to play the suburban bar circuit for the rest of their lives. But news of Season Five runner-up Katharine McPhee's departure from RCA Records is truly disappointing, even it it's not a complete surprise. Marred by label bumbling (picking the insipid "Over It" as her debut single still boggles the mind), the album was quickly met with slow sales and relegated to "coulda been" status. But it didn't have to be that way; featuring six mostly stellar songs produced and co-written with Danjahandz (a.k.a. the dude who helped Timbaland modernize the likes of Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake), the record was far from a stilted Idol schmaltz-fest. "Not Ur Girl" is one of the Danja tracks and it easily trumps anything we've ever heard from the gazillion-selling Chris Daughtry (sorry, dudes of America). It's the kind of track Christina Aguilera should make. Independent and funky, McPhee rails against a pushy guy who won't stop texting her at 2 a.m.: "I'm not your girl, I'm not leaving with you just because you asked me to." It's depressing to think someone featured on America's biggest TV show can't even get a second chance nowadays and, considering her (admittedly dubious) upcoming acting prospects, McPhee might very well leave music behind all together, which would be sad. Anyway ... get ready for more future also-rans with the debut of the seventh season of American Idol next week! WHERE: Listen to the track here. **** stars