I haven't wiki'ed them all, but some go on to release an album or two. A lot of them get dropped by their label in their first year. A lot vanish immediately, or are on YouTube doing covers and occasionally original material.
I think that's a combination of things:
- The shows are 90% exploitation, and hopefully the contestants know that. There's nothing
necessarily wrong with choosing to be exploited. I mean, that's how most jobs work. But if you buy the hype that the shows are all about discovering talent, etc, you may be crushed.
- If you win and get a recording contract, the label is probably thinking
A naive person has just rocketed to fame! Let's strike while their iron is hot. MOST of those people are not magically going to be cut out to be recording artists, which is an entirely different thing from being a good performer in a talent show or on YouTube. The studio is gonna say
Do this, do that -- no, not like you want to do it, but like we say. and so on. There's going to be pressure to do a cover you might not like, or to produce more original material, or your material will be rejected. They're gonna want you to do promotional appearances, and maybe to tour, or maybe they'll forbid you to tour, and so on.
- A lot of people who do well on those shows don't even want to make music their whole life.
I think of Susan Boyle. I GUARANTEE the label was thinking,
We'll get one or MAYBE two passable albums out of her before she implodes or the public loses interest. Hurry up and then cut her. And I bet that happens a whole lot. A big label isn't opposed to finding a bankable, sustainable, reliable new talent, but they're not expecting it. The shows are a gimmick.
I still enjoy watching people do an audition in front of a huge audience and celebrity judges, kick ass, and receive accolades. It's marvelous. It's like going in for an ordinary job interview and being named CEO. Or going on a blind date and meeting a solid all-around 10 who likes you. And the exposure obviously can be good.
I may have mentioned before, but a friend of mine was in a professional men's singing group one summer, and they were AMAZING. There were like a dozen dudes in the group, and probably ten of them were
amazing singers. And I don't think a single one of them was interested in pursuing a singing career. It was just a thing they did on the side, or over the summer, or for the hell of it.
Conversely, a lot of pop stars are not really terrific singers, although that isn't always a handicap. Dylan and Springsteen are never gonna sing opera, but they know how to work it. Springsteen is like a textbook case of knowing what you can and can't do and playing to your strengths. Meanwhile, there are a lot of people with amazing voices who make atrocious stylistic choices constantly, although I'm sure it's often at the direction of a producer or coach or whatever. And plenty of people have amazing voices that are nonetheless too fragile to withstand a three-month tour of repeated performances.
The funny thing, to me, is that nowadays you can make serious money by posting songs on YouTube, and to hell with the big labels. Some YouTube stars do go on to sign contracts, with mixed success, but I do think and kind of hope that we're moving to a more audience-selected deal. Of course, there will still be businesspeople massaging the system, and there will be great acts who just can't seem to catch on with the wider public, same as always. But the
cost of putting your schtick out there for people to experience has dropped enormously, and that's cool.
Occasionally, the TV judges (even Simon Cowell) say things like
No matter what happens with this show, you can have a career in music if you just don't give up. And that's cool.
