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Is it illegal for Cowell to sign all the finalists?
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I remember a few years ago in ‘How do you solve a problem like Maria?’ Connie Fisher won and Aoife Mulholland was made the alternate Maria and I think ALW and the BBC were told this couldn’t happen again as people had voted for Maria and fact that they had Aoife as well nulled out some of the votes (sorry that wasn’t the most eloquently put, but I hope you get what I mean)
Anyway since then, I don’t think any of the other contestants have played the roles even in cases where the producers clearly favoured Jessie Buckley over Jodie Prenger.
So….
How come Cowell can sign ALL the finalists then?
Like why bother voting for Matt if all the others essentially get the same deal anyway?
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s103/the-x-factor/news/a293381/cowell-signs-up-all-x-factor-finalists.html
Edit: I've put the illegal in ' ' as I mean against Ofcom rules etc
Anyway since then, I don’t think any of the other contestants have played the roles even in cases where the producers clearly favoured Jessie Buckley over Jodie Prenger.
So….
How come Cowell can sign ALL the finalists then?
Like why bother voting for Matt if all the others essentially get the same deal anyway?
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s103/the-x-factor/news/a293381/cowell-signs-up-all-x-factor-finalists.html
Edit: I've put the illegal in ' ' as I mean against Ofcom rules etc
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Well what has he legally done wrong?
Voters voted for to save their favourite, and then in the end for a winner. They didn't vote to block the others from getting a record deal as such.
So no, I don't see any legal controversy whatsoever. If the phone voting had included something like "only one of these contestants can get a 1 million poiund record deal" then I could see the problem. I don't remember anything like that though.
I think the difference in the maria thing might be that, there is only one part of maria in a play, so to cast someone else would directly contradict the phone voting.
I think basically its all in the wording, also, in the wording of the small print.
Because they don`t all get the same deal, the non-winners are tied up with a 1 year no promotion clause in the XF contracts.
In the case of Wand Erection, I think a year may give them time to mature a bit and learn to sing/dance, so it may not hurt in the long run assuming people still remember them.
If nobody else was allowed to be signed other than the winner, nobody would bother entering.
You're voting to have your favourite win, not to ban others from being signed.
So no. Not illegal. In fact banning them from being signed probably would be illegal.
I agree with this.
Just wondering what the difference is between this and the BBC programmes - but I can't find an article about that so we may never be enlightened!
I just find it a bit dodgy Cowell has signed them.
Another record company could - just like alot of the rejected Maria and Josephs etc went into other west end shows....
They can release stuff, they just can`t promote it & it is a year. The thing that surprised me is that even acts that didn`t get through to the live shows are tied up the same way...Read the Gamu thread about her being stopped from promoting her charity single.
The winner of the X Factor gets a record deal as a prize for winning. The runners up are not promised anything, but Simon (Syco) or other Sony record labels can offer then record deals (and they have first dibs). Then after a certain period of time, non Sony labels can also offer them record deals. But no matter what you think about Simon and SyCo, if Simon offers you a deal, you better accept it.
I suspect the BBC has to operate by different rules because they spent licence payers' money on a programme that they effectively didn't have to. Non-BBC programmes don't get that funding.
Jedward??
Of course they can promote stuff! They just need SyCo to agree to alter the contract. The conditions aren't imposed by a third party. They're there to stop people getting publicity off the X Factor and then signing to a different label immediately after the show ends (or even quitting mid way through and signing with someone else).
However if any of them sign to SyCo, Simon can simply ammend the contract. All you need is all signatories to agree to the ammendment.
What was done in ‘How do you solve a problem like Maria?’ divided the prize between the top two. It would be like splitting the value of the recording contract between the winner and runner-up on XF with each getting a fraction of the total. So if the XF contract is worth £3M the top two might get contracts worth £1.75M and £1.25M. That would be unfair to the winner.
Kinda makes a joke of the whole process really...Oh wait its XF & Simon Cowell, what was I thinking, of course there are no rules.
To be fair to Simon (ack, I feel dirty just saying that!) he is investing a lot of money in promoting these people. It would be unfair for another record label to swoop in and start signing acts to compete against SyCo's own signed artists. The clause is there to protect SyCo's interests, not to protect the winner.
However, i do think it is unfair that contestants that Simon isn't interested in signing should be forced to stick to this clause. Fair enough if Simon wants to sign them and they refuse. He needs to be able to protects his investments. But if he is not interested in signing someone at all, he should release them from this contract and allow them a fair chance to find a job with someone else. The fact that he can reject someone AND stop them from promoting themselves elsewhere is unfair, IMO.
They do, IF the record label isn't under sony. Syco is under sony and can sign them but also is the record which the show works with so any act can come off the show and straight on it because the contract signed that is binding them is also with syco. Or at least thats what has happened in the past (Rhydian was signed the day after the final etc)
So - 1D will be negotiating their own deal with Syco, presumably represented by an independent lawyer?? Interesting! Also, anything they signed while still minors could be tested too, were it be considered restraint of trade or whatever.
I don't think they're counted as minors, there all 16+ so I would assume they are legally counted as adults for this.. Anyone one of them is 18 coming up for 19 so? (I have no expertise in this whatsoever, this is just what i would assume it to be)
What's this silliness about it being "illegal"? Simon runs the show, he can do whatever the hell he wants. Honestly it's pointless to whine about these things. Just be happy so many of them are getting this opportunity.