Woman's Gotta Have It
Filmed at The Workplay Theater in Birmingham, AL 9-26-09 with Ona Watson.
Song available on Taylor's new album, The Distance.
On sale now! Pick your copy today!

Monday, January 14, 2008

Taylor Hicks - American Idol's Golden Treasure

......yes Clive, Nigel and Simon, it's a pity you white-suit music 'professionals' couldn't see the musical genius of YOUR Season 5 American Idol winner Taylor Hicks - you remember, the musician, the one playing that little blues harp, in the following video?



Yes, Clive, you're right, Taylor will never be a Top 40 pop artist. And he most likely will never share the chart with Fergie, Justin, Beyonce, Carrie or Britney. In your mind, I guess that would characterize him as a "failure" - enough so, to make him feel he needed to drop J Records in favor of gaining his creative musical freedom. Tsk, tsk. You failed him Clive. If you would have just let Taylor be Taylor, things would have been fine and dandy. But no, it just wasn't in the cards. I guess pushing over 700,000 US sales from a modern day bluesman with no hit song and no support from YOUR label wasn't good enough. It's pity you and your 'hip' label couldn't recognize the raw talent you had right before your eyes.

Welp, good riddance J Records - thanks for all your non-support. I hope this year's AI Winner fits your mold better and fills your deep pockets with lots of that green stuff. I mean, after all, isn't that all that matters?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

griz, did you see the Rollingstone article...

Music Biz Laments "Worst Year Ever"

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/st...orst_year_ever/



Of all the labels, Sony BMG -- which merged in 2004 -- had the toughest year: The company's market share shrunk three percent, it paid $10 million to settle a payola investigation (Warner eventually settled for $5 million) and had to recall 4.7 million CDs that included invasive copy-protection software. "How does a record label self-destruct?" says Darryl Pitt, manager of the Bad Plus, whose CD was recalled. "This is a pretty good way."

It looks like they had to clean house because of their tough year...some of their other artists better watch their backs...

but then it also had a good tidbit about indies.

The Indie Scene

As the majors stumbled, independent labels gained market share, accounting for eighteen percent of CD sales in '05. Indie labels proved especially adept at Internet marketing via outlets like MySpace; the emo label Victory Records sold 558,000 copies of Hawthorne Heights' album The Silence in Black and White without radio play. And several hip indie acts -- the Arcade Fire, Interpol and Bright Eyes -- sold more than 250,000 copies each. The indie model of earning profits on a broad range of small-scale releases, rather than focusing on blockbusters, may offer a new direction for the majors. "The major labels want to say the glass is half full," says Gwen Stefani's manager Jim Guerinot. "I think everybody's getting the message: You better get a fucking smaller glass. The music business is a different game."

Taylor will be fine..

mjk said...

Despite what Nigel says: TH has a lot of "grannies from Omaha" willing to buy albums, plane tickets, concert tickets and hotel reservations to satisfy their addiction.

People love to see people get knocked off their pedestal ... they love it even more when they beat the odds after it happens. TH is a curious case because he elicits so much positive and negative passion. We are never going to convert the hatahs. How they re-connect with the middle ground ... more extensive touring, lower ticket costs, will determine where his career goes from here.

Anonymous said...

Great write up...I agree totally.