Word: aikens
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...employees at Clay Aiken's record label, RCA, if they would listen to Aiken's debut album, Measure of a Man, by choice, and the response is almost uniform: a lengthy pause followed by laughter. RCA was the home of Elvis Presley, and its current roster includes critical favorites like the Strokes and the Foo Fighters. It's a rock label. Aiken, who came in second on the most recent installment of American Idol, is not only not a rocker, but, as he says in his aggressively self-deprecating way, "I'm not an artist. I'm just...
...revolution of which Aiken speaks is a TV show. In two seasons on the air, American Idol has snatched the notoriously vague process of selecting musical talent away from music executives and put it in the hands of ordinary Americans. In a convenient syllogism, Aiken believes that since everyday people chose him as their hero, those at RCA who don't like him or his music are biased against everyday people. He may be right. It's also possible that his denigrators love music--and the process of making music--far more than Aiken can imagine and that they resent...
With Measure of a Man's Oct. 14 release around the corner, it is now an incidental fact that Aiken did not actually win American Idol. Thirty-four million people watched last May as Ruben Studdard edged out Aiken by less than 1% of the votes. Studdard was the more polished singer, but Aiken was the better narrative. Week to week, with the help of a hair iron and contact lenses, he was transformed from a complete geek who sang show tunes into a better-looking geek who sang pop ballads. After the Idol finale, interest in Aiken surged...
Richard Sanders, executive vice president and general manager of RCA Records, caught on early to what he calls the "emotional connection" Aiken forged with the Idol audience, and he decided that regardless of who won on the show, RCA was going to sign Aiken. (In a deal struck with the show's creator, Simon Fuller, RCA has the right of first refusal for all American Idol finalists. So far, the label has signed inaugural winner Kelly Clarkson, her runner-up Justin Guarini and Aiken; Studdard was signed by sister label J Records.) Sanders made his name as a music executive...
Many members of the RCA staff are fond of Aiken, if not his music, and are willing to go along with Sanders. But a healthy minority have curiously deep reservoirs of disdain for the Idol industry. One RCA executive, who insisted on anonymity, cited Idol as proof that "Americans have no taste" and described Aiken as "Barry Manilow, but with less talent." Sanders says he understands that some of his employees are "skeptical about the selection process and skeptical about selling a pop artist with no credibility." But, he adds, "I've told everyone they need to look...