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How Many Acts Have To Sign Contracts
textpest
Posts: 329 Forum Member
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Just wondered if Cowell signs all finalists after the semis or do you reckon all semi finalists have to sign a exclusivity contract else they dont get put thro.
I wondered, as Disney has approached Cowell with regards to Shaheen about him making movies and not his parents/manager.
I wondered, as Disney has approached Cowell with regards to Shaheen about him making movies and not his parents/manager.
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The finalists who go on tour get a fee per show, not real big money, but in the contract is it clear they have to even pay an agents fee!
Shaheen and Disney, money man Cowell will see ££££££££££'s in his eyes! as long as he is managing agent and perhaps scyco get an imprint on any releases, such money grabbing opportunity, how could Cowell turn it down? more $$$$$$$£££££££ for Him!
The whole aim will be to prevent contestants cashing in on their appearances on the show so there will be some sort of first refusal period. Faryl had to wait ages to release her album and that certainly seems to have knocked her potential sales.
Susan has no real choice but to sign with Syco. If she turns her back on them, they'll pull all her promotion. That includes the YouTube video, appearances on shows like Oprah and America's Got Talent but more importantly, the first refusal period will be so long that the iron, which is already cooling rapidly, will be stone cold when it is finally struck. She only has one album in her, probably no chance of touring, so she needs to maximise its sales.
Not sure about Shaheen. Syco might be interested in getting in on a Disney UK TV project. But it might relate more to Modest. Certainly he won't get a solo record deal unless Disney are looking to back him somehow.
The uncertainty for me about him is not whether he'll get a solo record deal but who he'll get it with and when. He was 12 before the audition in february so he probably has about 15 months before his voice breaks, so ideally the best time to get him would be after the BGT tour has finished which is probably the earliest they can do it anyway. His best bet is to do it with Simon, he's good at getting it out quick whilst the iron's hot and if he waits - like Faryl did (there was probably a clause in her contract with BGT saying she couldn't sign for anyone else before a certain time) and wasn't as good. I can see some sort of joint syco/disney thing going on with him to be honest, he can certainly act but he probably shouldn't commit to any singing stuff until after his voice breaks, well, at least other than short term stuff. It'll probably be fine and he'll be able to sing as well after it breaks (often is with well-trained singers) but you can't guarantee it - he can act then anyway if he likes but it will probably also coincide with a period when he needs to concentrate on his school work, and not being in a stage school FT his school won't necessarily make the concessions. I'm not sure about him singing musicals, he can sing, and he can act, but he seems to not be able to do both together - surprisingly, this is a big problem and not easy to solve.
If he does record he needs better song choices though - Yeah, he made fame on BGT singing those two songs (the MJ one and the semi piece) and they should be there, but neither of them really suit his compass (because he has to shout more the lower the songs) or a boy of 12 (especially the song he sung in the semi final) which is probably the over-riding reason why he didn't win, because the voice is talented.
Regarding the others, I can see Susan signing, doing a few recitals and a CD of show songs then making enough money to just go back to doing what she normally does, having had a career. Cowell can't do much with dancers but Aidan seems to be more versatile than that, so he'll probably sign him (he can play guitar, so he's musical, so cowell will probably get him a voice coach). He can wait with Shaun a bit, he's not quite ready yet but (like Andrew Muir last year) he has the hallmarks of a good voice when it's ironed out. As for Hollie... well, she isn't ready yet but when she's about 15 she probably will be, and she'll probably end up on xfactor or something. Julian's signed already but I can't see him having a long career, maybe a CD of famous tunes played on the sax or something? Can't think of many of the others being good enough or marketable from Simon's perspective.
maybe it's a similar situation to big brother - maybe the finalists are assigned agents to explore any potential commercial possibilities after the show ?
I would imagine Cowell has some sort of first refusal on all of them, as well as them having to keep quiet on things - a lot of them have proverbial skeletons about their past which the show has kept quiet as well, yet in some cases they have been honest in the media about it. I guess act choice controversies are a problem... people only seem to mention that now when they are free from the show - Good Evans and Ben and Becky have probably already been given their NFI so are free from it. Apparently Aidan wanted to repeat his audition in the final but was told he had to come up with a new routine by BGT (not that it would have helped him much, but he was performing back to back days due to BGT).
I would imagine it would be tighter this year after Faryl Smith took Cowell for a ride (well, her parents did anyway) by turning down Syco and signing for Universal... I would imagine Shaheen might have difficulty signing for Disney as mooted unless they negotiate something concurrent with Cowell (e.g. Cowell has rights over his singing, or some joint ownership deal) - if they want to make him into some teenage pop star thing then they might have one big problem with that (it's pretty obvious) so that probably isn't the best move for him anyway.
The reality is you get lots of hype with this programe. The only one likely to get sined is Diversity. The rest were not up to much.
Sure lots of people on here will rave about them but few will buy their music or go to their shows.
Last year we had some real talent with Faryl & Escala.
The reality is you get lots of hype with this programe. The only one likely to get sined is Diversity. The rest were not up to much.
Sure lots of people on here will rave about them but few will buy their music or go to their shows.
Last year we had some real talent with Faryl & Escala.
The rumours that Faryl refused to sign up with Simon are incorrect . Simon decided he did not want to sign her. That may have been because he felt their would be a conflict as he had signed Escala. I have no doubt Simon got some kind of cut from Universal.
I doubt it, read the Faryl threads on here, her parents said there was a lot in the syco contracts they didn't like, and they said no, and took her to a label who they thought would look after her interests better. These are direct quotes so we can presume they're relatively accurate.
As for the level of talent we can presume that some of them will be signed up for record deals but Cowell does little with dancers (George?). Diversity don't seem to be what he looks for unless he's going to do something like a DVD of dance moves which would get somewhat tiring after a few minutes with the same lot. He tends to go more for singers and musicians because that is what he knows best and he can make CDs out of them - he signed Escala (who he knew anyway), Andrew Johnston (a better talent than Faryl) and Andrew Muir and wanted Faryl (as above) - signed George and didn't get much done, and that song was pretty awful...
Faryl definitely turned down Simon Cowell. Any suggestion that he did not want to sign her is rubbish. If you watch some of her interviews on YT, particularly the Alan Titchmarsh show interview and the Loose Women one also she states unequivically that she turned him down. Hence all of her BGT TV show videos were pulled by Simon on the grounds of breach of copyright. Every other performer's videos were left on YT. Also he treated her very shabbily when she appeared on the third semi of 2009 as a guest. He did not applaud her performance, and when Faryl thanked the show and the judges for giving her the chance of embarking on a career. Piers and Amanda faced her and smiled, Simon did not look at her and sat stoney faced. Faryl and Escala were the gold he wanted to mine. He got Escala, Andrew Johnston and George Sampson. Andrew and George put a few pennies in his pocket. Now Escala are his only profitable signing from that show.
Last year, Simon went overboard, IMO. That he was even contemplating trying to sign Faryl Smith when figures like £2.3m are involved is pretty peculiar. Andrew Johnston was a one off album, but it didn't sell particularly well. Escala and Faryl Smith likely won't exceed 150,000 sales which is the kind of number that got Leon Jackson and Same Difference dropped. Something similar happened on XF4 where he signed the top 3. But last year, he only signed the winner. The days of the G4/Journey South cash in albums would appear to be gone.
He'll sign Susan because that's an unprecedented situation. I don't think he would release a solo Shaheen album just now. But if Disney were partners and they looked to build some kind of Hannah Montana-esque franchise, then he might want to be involved. I just can't see a stand alone Shaheen album selling very much at all.
I can see Shaheen as a Disney kid actually.