LAST EDITED ON 08-05-09 AT 00:43 AM (EST)Ju'Not was canned because he sucked. If he had any talent as a songwriter, he wouldn't be releasing a cover as his first single, either.
That said, what is the controversy here? We've known about the problems with the Idol contracts since season 2. Basically, the producers get an option on you that lasts until three months after the show is over. If they choose to sign you, they can get both recording and publication rights.
Through season 3, there was a standard Idol contract. But Clay Aiken hired a lawyer who got him released from his contract, and then Kelly Clarkson used the same lawyer to get released from her contract. The grounds for release was that the contract was "take-it-or-leave-it". So then Idol's lawyers came up with the idea of having the semi-finalists as a group hire a lawyer and negotiate a joint contract -- in other words, modified collective bargaining.
Is the contract onerous? Yes. The producers insist on the three-month exclusivity period so that (a) they can mount the Idol tour, and (b) you can't be part of a competing tour. So is it a net negative to be on Idol? Of course not. No one would even listen to Ju'Not's insipid bleating if he hadn't been on Idol.
Not everyone the producers have signed has made it. We look at Kelly, Clay, Carrie, Bo, Kellie, Daughtry ... but we ignore such flops as Tamyra, Justin, Blake and Taylor at our peril. There is no question that 19 Management lost money on each of the flops. No matter what Ju'not thinks, the management contracts are not a license to print money, even though they are one-sided. After all, when did you last hear of katherine McPhee? How about David Cook?
And then there are the people who made it despite not being signed by the producers, including Jennifer Hudson and Elliott Yamin. And sometimes it's hard to tell. Look at Diana DeGarmo, who is still only 22 and is working with the legendary producer John Rich. The producers signed her but released her, although her debut album was actually quite good.
But, see, the music business is still very political -- more so now than ever, since playlists have shrunk so much. It may be hard for Ju'Not to believe, but you'll never make it just on talent.
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I only started semi-seriously following the thing a couple of seasons ago, so the details were new to me. 