We have many great talented musicians in this country, many of whom have worked their way up from empty venues, through to playing on an international stage.
Many people, if not a majority of people not associated with Idol within the music industry don't like Idol it because it makes a mockery of the hard work real singers/bands put in to struggle to make it themselves. I've seen people try and make it, and its very very tough to do.
Are there talented singers on Idol? Yes of course.....but there are also a lot of other taletened musicians out there who are just as good.
There are a few factors that I think people should realise about this show.
1) It's not about the singers or the talent, its about the advertisers, and the revenue coming in from the show. The amount of money Ten rakes in from people watching, voting, the money the advertisers paying for advertising air time is what helps keep it on TV, which is why its still on air.....people still watch it.
Lots of those people watching it are younger people with access to a mobile (great for voting), and are ripe for the picking in terms of advertisers targeting the young audience to buy their products. Next time you watch it, check out the products being advertised and who they are being targeted at.
2) Anyone who wins Idol scores a record contract......great you say, but that record contract is something that has to be paid back to the record company by the artist.
Most albums sold in Australia, the artist gets about $1-$2 per album sold. The rest goes on costs and paying back the record company and thats if they have written most of the songs themselves. The real money is in touring and merchandise. The Waifs (an Australian band) made close to a million dollars just on merchandise when they toured with Bob Dylan around America.
I'd really hate to see how much Casey Donovan owes to her record company!
If the show was about developing real talent, get the singers to write their own songs...now that would be interesting.
The problem for Idol winners is that a majority of them are great singing cover songs, but when it gets to singing their own songs they generally fall short and dont have the musical skills or talent to keep going.
Idol could be good, it would be great if it were great singers/musicians singing their own original material......if it were in this format, I would watch it.....but while it continues being a glorified karioke contest.....ill pass.
:v:
