Adam Lambert didn’t have to win American Idol – clearing up a rumor.

(This blog will return to regularly scheduled programming next week. Need to continue the brain dump from the last two weeks)

Clearing up what I call the BIGGEST misconception about American Idol. I heard this while talking to fans at all three shows this week and while I know my little barely visited blog wont stop this rumor from continuing, I have to try!

Here’s the deal: As soon as you make it to the round of 13 (or 12, or 14 or however AI wants to do it that season) – you are automatically under a preliminary recording contract with them. Any song you perform as a contestant on the show will also have an accompanying studio version released on iTunes so you are technically at that moment a recording artist. The parent company (19 Entertainment) then holds a ‘right of first refusal’ on any post Idol records. So, it does not matter whether you come in 10th or 1st – 19E becomes your management company and WILL sign you to a record deal IF they think you are good enough. The only one who they HAVE to give a deal to is the winner. The way it worked out in Season 8 was that the official recording deals with Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta were formally announced pretty much as soon as the show ended. That’s your #2 and #4 contestants. Kris Allen – who won – did not have a deal announced until after them. Of course it was a given for him, but 19E has to decide which of their labels they want the artist to be under. They knew well into the show where they wanted Adam and Allison to be and got to work on it early. Plus, regardless of winning or not, Adam had such a passionate group of fans that any smart production company would start to bank on that popularity right out of the gate. Once the show is over, it is then up to the artist to make something of the opportunity they have been given.

So – stop saying (in any year) – that “it’s better if he/she doesn’t win because then they aren’t tied to American Idol!” because that is BUNK! First of all – any one of those singers would KILL to be ‘tied to American Idol’ because that is your publicity making machine. Secondly, oh yes they ARE tied! Adam has stated in dozens and dozens of post Idol interviews that he was given plenty of room to roam creatively on his album. Whatever misconception people have about 19e, I truly don’t understand because there is no evidence to support the statement that it is so awful to be ‘tied’ to them. Was it a Kelly Clarkson thing? Maybe, but that was season 1 which was, at this point, ages ago. I certainly don’t hear Carrie Underwood complaining about 19e!! Wouldn’t be able to hear her past all those grammy’s anyway 🙂

And if you don’t believe me that Adam and Kris have the same deal – well, here, listen to HIM tell you! (and yeah, I shake my head at the dj who works in the business repeating the same damn misconception. I hope he was just playing dumb to lead into this topic because otherwise he just looks really…dumb!):

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Oh – and since this interview also includes the Dusty Madrid tale and since Adam did just tweet a pic from Vegas – here’s the infamous Dusty Madrid photo: