Back in May FOX revealed the American Idol 2015 schedule would feature a reduce episode order resulting in the elimination of the weekly results show. Now host Ryan Seacrest is confirming the established expectations with details on what’s to come.
Seacrest shared the latest on Idol over the weekend while attending the Z100 Jingle Ball in NYC. The Idol host reiterated FOX’s plans to combine the performance show and results show in one episode after the season premiere in January 2015. Ryan Seacrest explained, “so there won’t be a “Wait ’til tomorrow night.’ There won’t be a ‘Coming up, coming up, coming up.’ We are going to put it all into one format in one night. So that will be exciting.”
Once the show hits one night a week we’ll watch both performances and results show wrapped up in to one episode. While it’s not ideal this approach has been done by So You Think You Can Dance and last year with Dancing With The Stars. Say goodbye to silly filler material on Idol results show, but sadly that’ll cut back on opportunities for returning Idol contestants and guest performances.
Since FOX typically pulls strong numbers with the American Idol auditions phase of the seasons they’ll be keeping two shows a week through those and beyond. Not until March 26, 2015 will we see the Thursday night shows cut from the routine.
In past seasons that stage of the competition would put us well into the finalists rounds and single digit Hopefuls to go. Ryan says this year that could be the Top 10, but with Judges’ Saves and all you never know.
What do you think of FOX’s plans for the American Idol 2015 schedule? Are you glad to see the extra show cut or will you miss the two-night experience of Idol each week?
Glad it’s gone!
Sounding to me like it’s the last season.
Not necessarily. The other shows that have done this (DWTS & SYTYCD) are still on after having made this change several seasons ago for each.
Yep. All good things must end sometime.
AI’s audience left when Simon Cowell left. Doubtful it will return.
I like several of the alumni but the show began getting tiring for me three seasons ago.
Does that mean no separate” FINALE” show; or just top two sing and after they perform a winner is announced?
Good question. I’m assuming it will be like Dancing With The Stars as far as the finale show is concerned.
The producers get paid BIG BUCKS to come up with such a dumb move! The smart thing to do would be to watch why the VOICE has gotten more viewership and copy those traits. I would have liked to see AI copy the iTunes ratings as part of the votes. Too late now as you can’t do that with only a “ONE NIGHT STAND”!
American Idol and The Voice are two very similar entertainment shows, yet they both differentiate in their audiences. Idol’s median age is around 50 years old. The Voice tends to appeal to a younger demographic.
Part of the reason for the demographic differences has to do with the coaches on the Voice being younger.
Another part of the reason is because the contestants on the Voice get to sing current and edgier songs.
In addition to getting more viewership, the Voice is getting current A-list artists to be guest mentors and guest performers.
But their winners go nowhere after the show unlike Idol which has upped the incomes of a good many former contestants.
Chris Mann is successful in the classical crossover genre.
Danielle Bradberry and Cassadee Pope have had some moderate success in the country genre.
Also, the Swon Brothers are having some moderate success in the country genre.
Ella is right. The ones with moderate success have been the country contestants. They’ve been on tour with other country acts and have had some moderate airplay on Billboard’s country charts.
She’s also right about Chris Mann. He’s had two PBS concert specials and has recently been tapped to play the lead role in the touring production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom Of The Opera.
I think the ages of a lot of the contestants from the show plays a factor. Many are over 30, which is not easy to market in a youth-driven industry. Also, many of the contestants are more niche artists than mainstream artists.
I don’t believe being on any of these shows is for nothing, because even if they are local musicians, many are unknown before they are on the show, and can build their careers even locally from being on the show. David Cook and Kris Allen were known locally in their regions, and had a following before they were on Idol but now have a big enough audience to sustain even an indie music career. They might not have had enough of a local audience to be able to do this if they had not been on any kind of national show.
I second that. Not all contestants from any of these shows are going to reach Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood levels of success but they are doing well enough that they can keep doing what they love to do.
I second what Cookie78 said. Even though many of them are on indie labels, they have more of an audience than they did before.
Here are some pros and cons about indie labels vs. major labels.
www. musicthinktank. com/mtt-open/indie-vs-major-which-record-label-contract-is-right-for-you. html
Many singers and bands I grew up on during the 80s have moved on to indie labels now.
In addition to original songs this year, the finalists also got to make music videos. Seems to me they’ve finally realized how useless the label or management has been post-show.
I found the original songs to be mostly credible.
Matt’s single fits perfectly into the current alt/rock scene along with bands like Hozier and Imagine Dragons.
Chris could serve as a relevant winner as well.
Damien’s single finally gave him the chance to prove his mettle as a contemporary artist.
Hated Craig’s single. Very generic and B-side-ish.
I think that Matt’s single, Wasted Love, may wind up being to The Voice what Phillip Phillips’ “Home” was to American Idol: A game-changing, earwormy gem perfectly suited to the singer — and capable of launching him from reality star to viable recording artist.
Wow! These originals left many AI coronation songs in the dust!
I was for the most part impressed with the finalists’ singles as well. They sounded, you know, like REAL SONGS. And they were well matched to the singers’ respective styles.
If digitalsalesdata .com is close to being accurate, the 4 original songs have already sold a combined 125k downloads.
Agreed. So glad The Voice is making the effort to showcase these singers as relevant commercial artists.
I dont like it at all. I like the two night format. I will miss the second night with guests.
How is this going to work for the west coast because it is filmed earlier for the east coast.
I’d expect the same voting method as they have now. Then instead of revealing the results the next night it’ll wait a week before being announced.
Well I have to say this is welcome news. They didn’t have to get rid of the results show they just needed to cut out off the useless crap from it. When the results show was cut to a half hour I thought that meant finding the bottom 3 or 2, revealing who got the lowest number of votes and one or two guest performances, but they for the most part cut out the guest performances and kept the useless crap. I don’t care what the contestants had for dinner, or if they went shopping or had a picnic. That stuff to me wasn’t entertaining enough to keep me watching. At least the guest performances were entertaining and would give the viewers a break from the stress of the results. The crap made a 30 minute results show feel like 3 hours. As far as the voting goes keep it the same and reveal who goes home the next week and perhaps have a longer voting window.
Coca-Cola has ended sponsorship with American Idol.
www. mjsbigblog. com/coca-cola-ends-sponsorship-deal-American-idol. htm
Goodnight American idol .i never want to go back 14 years it was made on my settlement $$$$$$
Ryan John seacrest i hope he is NOT hiv…drinking gives u hiv.
Nikki j.Breeze ….my name forever not a VIRGIN i ONLY make them nuns NOT STARS. …
I am some DEAD people started the show 14years ago people ONLY want 2 get paid 2 watch it.
Paid TV watchers HATE that show.
Its 4 people who like star search.
Its the gong show.& he is chuck barris…Ryan just a chippendale guy.
So just want a dish.
LOL! Apparently we have a couple of spammers just joined the conversation.
I’ve flagged them as inappropriate.
Thank you. Their joking about things like HIV is very inappropriate and rather immature.
Yay! They’re gone!
The country guy from Blake’s team – Craig Wayne Boyd – won the Voice. Not my favorite genre, but he is the rare winner who jumps out of the gate knowing exactly who he is as an artist. I think he has a good shot at success.
Of the previous male winners, I think that Craig is the most marketable.
Yes. Agreed. It helps that he has a ready-made sound, in a genre where he can shine, and that he’s easy on the eyes.
I second that. Craig has the IT factor, not bad on the eyes & wonderful stage presence.
Craig has the Thor-looks, which is super watchable esp for the honky-tonk cougars out there.
I am not surprised that Craig won. While Matt’s original song was extremely strong (it’s the only one I downloaded from last night), I found his other two songs to not be as good as some of his other stuff from earlier in the season. For me, this was one of the most even final groups I’ve seen on The Voice – I would not have been totally shocked if any of the final four had won.
The only original song that has a chance to make it is Matt’s. The Voice producer’s were “BLATANTLY” trying to give Matt the win to NO avail! Note; even an expensive choir for his original song ( that’s even better than last nights currently #1 ” Take you to Church” song). LOL
I very highly disagree that Matt’s is the only one that has potential.
I’m more into rock than country but I do think that Craig’s single blends in perfectly to the modern country music landscape. Therefore, I see potential with the song.
The only type of country I can stomach is pop-country – Lady Antebellum, Faith Hill, Shania Twain, LeAnn Rimes, Carrie Underwood, Lonestar, Rascal Flatts, Jo Dee Messina, Danielle Bradberry, Sara Evans
Yes! Simple and stupid. LOL That was Blake’s song; whereas; the others were created by a team including Meghan Trainor, Gwen, and Pharrell + others. AI should find some good song writers-not the 19/interscope ones that did Claeb’s Larry the Cable Guy Album- “Git “R” DONE” songwriters! LOL Glad Jena Irene can compose her own “BETTER SONGS”!
Totally second that!
That’s in regards to 19 getting better songs for their contestants.
LOL! At least it wasn’t about trucks and beer!
The only original song I was Damien’s. He is such a soulful inspiration. I think Craig will go over well in the country field especially since Blake is so well liked. Chris has a shot I think with his song although I did think there was too much falsetto in the song. Sorry Matt fans I felt like he was yelling most of his song.
Matt is over rated! He often goes FLAT! His song has the BEST lyrics though. Chris needs to follow in Adam’s footsteps-even though I don’t like that high wine of either Adam’s or Sam Smith’s voice it seems to sell.
I think Chris seems interested in going in the footsteps of Justin Timberlake. Never have been able to stand him.
Matt is meeting with record labels. His single is still in the top 10 on iTunes.
www. mjsbigblog. com/matt-mcandrews-takes-label-meetings-new-York-city. htm
I think it’s pretty amazing that Matt’s single “Wasted Love” is still going strong on the itunes charts. It’s currently at #6 on itunes without any radio play or media promotion. I wonder if his prospective label is hoping to give this song proper promotion, because that would be great. At the rate he’s going, I think he should be able to make Billboard’s top 10 for weekly digital downloads.
I didn’t like the nasty lyrics of Chris’s song.
As much as I was rooting for Matt to win, his coming in second is proof that iTunes somehow is not always the biggest indicator of who the winner is going to be.
I wasn’t too surprised either. Craig had the advantage of being in his own genre (country), while Chris, Matt and Damien, who all straddle genres, split the pop/rock/R&B vote.
I hate the audition rounds with all the horrible people. I want to see the good ones. I don’t find it funny or entertaining for my ears to be assaulted and to watch those with questionable personalities audition poorly. I want to hear good singers compete. That’s it! I like this cast of judges, Harry and Keith are hilarious, naturally. There is no put on with them. And JLo is fine except for dressing too young for her age and sometimes the outfits are kind of street walker-ish. That may be the style now but some of them just scream “hooker” to me. I think the one night show is fine. I won’t miss the waiting to find out who gets kicked off or all the crappy filler that is sooooo boring.
I’ve always hated the auditions part and the group drama during Hollywood Week.
Can’t wait to watch Emily Brooke!!!
The Voice is all about the judges not the artists. The Voice will never catch up to the amount of artists who have had success on American Idol.
I’ll say it before and I’ll say it again: I don’t believe being on any of these shows is for nothing, because even if they are local musicians, many are unknown before they are on the show, and can build their careers even locally from being on the show. David Cook and Kris Allen were known locally in their regions, and had a following before they were on Idol but now have a big enough audience to sustain even an indie music career. They might not have had enough of a local audience to be able to do this if they had not been on any kind of national show.
Like Music Lover said, many of them are niche artists. With them being niche artists, indie is the best route for them.
www. musicthinktank. com/mtt-open/indie-vs-major-which-record-label-contract-is-right-for-you. htm
The l in html got left off:
www. musicthinktank. com/mtt-open/indie-vs-major-which-record-label-contract-is-right-for-you. html
Thanks for that. I agree with they said. The major labels are no longer as relevant as they used to be.
The reason why is really simple: lack of promotion. With the exception of
Cassadee Pope and Danielle Bradbery, Voice winners go quickly into a
spiral in which they’re not “news” so they don’t get coverage and
opportunities, resulting in their being considered even less “news,” and
so on. However, The Powers That Be seem determined to break that cycle, as evidenced by giving them promo singles and videos.
Like Music Lover said, the kind of artists they are is a factor too. Cassadee and Danielle are mainstream artists, which has resulted in moderate success for them. The others are more suited for indie labels.
These are also reasons why I’ve become less interested in Idol in recent years.
isandwich. wordpress. com/2011/06/30/reasons-why-the-voice-american-idol/
Per a post on MJ’s Blog, here are the topline terms of The Voice contract. I’m rather shocked by how bad the deal is.
1. Recording Option – #2 gets $30,000 advance. They guarantee they will release 1 digital single. 5 album deal, royalty rate is 12% for first album then negotiated.
Mechanical royalties at 75%!!
> The winner gets $50,000 advance and a guarantee that they will release the album. No distribution guarantee that I can find.
2. Publishing contract – 50/50 co-publishing deal with 3 term extension options. $5,000 per composition embodied on albums released physically by a major.
3. Merchandise deal – 2 year exclusive merchandise deal plus 2 term extension options.
4. Touring Contract – Exclusive control over all live performances 1 year following the Voice.
5. Management Agreement – The Voice has an option of doing a
management deal with a 20% commission (standard) for a 7 year
term (very, very long).
It’s amazing that it can be so hard to get a major record deal, but that even if you get the deal, the chances of charting well are still slim. I admire anyone who tries to make a name for themselves in the music industry today.
Agree! It helps if you can compose your own songs to your certain style. Also, only the already “ESTABLISHED” artists get first pick of the best songs. Thus, why Jena Irene has a better chance to make it because she can “JENAFY” her “OWN” songs. Note: you can “NOW” purchase Jena’s “I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You” on iTunes.
Thanks for bringing that over here. I’ve always been rather curious about the contract. The good thing for the country singers is that Republic Records passes them on to other UMG labels, which seem to do a better job with promo than Republic does.
None of these clauses are unique. Pretty much every contract with a label has clauses in them that are in the label’s favor. Very few artists have any real power when it comes to negotiating these
deals.There are a lot of artists who sign with labels and then see their albums pushed back or shelved — it isn’t something that only happens to reality show contestants.
And there is no reason why the guarantees should be big. Reality show contestants can no longer be
guaranteed of selling a lot of singles or albums, so why would any label give them a huge advance?
I don’t like the system, because it screws over the artists in a lot of ways. There’s a reason why a lot of
musicians prefer staying independent rather than going with a label. But bottom line, the contracts these reality show contestants get offered
are basically no different than the ones offered to any new artist in terms of the clauses. The only real differences have to do with the touring and management clauses, not the ones related to putting out albums and singles.
From what I’ve heard, the contract that American Idol contestants have to sign is known for being rather restrictive.
This “my show is better than your show” nonsense is rather childish!
I watch both shows & I agree there are positives & negatives to
both. I am tired of the comparison with the shows. I have found artists I
like from both shows that I have bought music from post-show.
I just can’t get worked up about one show being better then another I
see all of these shows as something to sit back and relax to after 10 or
12 hours at work, maybe debate the merits of the contestants competing
with each other but I have a hard time debating which show is better
then which. I’m happy there are multiple shows because I find them a
great mechanism to find new artists, especially the ones the step
outside of the mainstream. I have been introduced to many artist that I
have followed for years on AI, Rockstar, The Voice, the Sing off, and a
couple of others that have slipped my mind right now.
I second that. I mentioned above that many singers and bands I grew up on during the 80s have moved on to indie labels now. They’re no longer chart toppers but that doesn’t matter to me one bit. Same way with singers from reality shows. Many favorites I like are ones who are on indie labels, such as Elliott Yamin, for example.
As the interview with last seaon’s winner of the Voice points out, success isn’t just about selling millions of albums.
www. wthr. com/story/27579858/2014/12/08/voice-champ-josh-kaufman-finds-success-on-different-stage
Thanks for posting that. Totally agree.
Ye! Like Simon Cowell told many contestants that he didn’t favor- “there’s always cruise ship singer jobs”. LOL
Several from Idol have gone into musical theater since the show and now
several from the Voice have gone into musical theater. I remember Simon
acted like that was a bad thing but I very highly disagree with him. The
folks that make it on Broadway are some of THE most talented performers around. They do it live and without auto-tune 8 shows a week–plus many of them act and dance. This Broadway insult thing that has been on AI has been a thorn in my side for years.
The way I see it, the contestants from the Voice have careers on the level of Brooke White or Anthony Whatever-His-Name-Was from season 4 of Idol.
Craig Wayne Boyd has been signed to Dot Records. This label is an imprint of Big Machine Records. Dot Records features Drake White and breakout country duo Maddie & Tae.
www. mjsbigblog. com/voice-winner-craig-wayne-boyd-signs-dot-records. htm
The guys from The Voice made the Billboard charts. Matt’s sales are most impressive.
www. mjsbigblog .com/billboard-chart-date-01032015 .htm