Ruben/Clay Album Dates Postponed/Separated

[Shazzer]

Originally posted by pepper
We can only guess why RCA has decided not to go the preferential treatment route. Perhaps they feel that they waited too long with both Kelly and Justin's CDs, and don't want to risk having Ruben and Clay fall out of popular consciousness. Perhaps they feel that publicity for Ruben will help Clay's sales, and that publicity for Clay will help Ruben's. Perhaps they'll flip a coin or decide on alphabetical order or age order or shoe size order to determine which CD should be released first. Most likely they'll do it based on which release date for which CD will give it the best chance at high sales figures.

This what I was thinking before. I.e. that inside the exec's brains, all they're doing is making a plan completely based on how much money they can make.

I don't care too much when they release the cds, i.e. together or separately. If they release Ruben's first, cool. If they don't, whatever. I'll be buying both of them. I just re-watched one of the shows as I was labeling my videos, and I fell in love with both of these guy's voices all over again.

I'm fine with them releasing Ruben's cd first. I think they'll both do very, very, well, and I can't wait!

[hockeydonna]

The best idea I've seen: Have people call *one* number, and then press 1 for contestant X, 2 for contestant Y, etc. I'm not sure if this is technologically realistic, but it certainly would ensure a more accurate result than the current system.

I know I suggested this awhile ago, because at least everyone is fighting for the same resource, so you have no issues with unequal availability of separate resources, or randomness in the availability.

I agree that "statistical tie" is technically not a correct term because it isn't a survey with a statistical difference. A better term for the result is "random". Given the number of call attempts (hundreds of millions, as reported by the phone companies), the size of the pipe, the number that got through, and the difference, it was random who happened to get more votes. That said, yes, Ruben did receive more votes, whether or not it was correct.

I think they are releasing Ruben's first because they know that Clay will outsell him if they release them the same day, and that isn't the kind of publicity they want.

John:

But Clay's popularity is entirely driven by the fact that he appeared on AI.

While I agree his popularity is driven by AI, he didn't have a recording contract because he never tried to get one. There are many many fans and people in the business who believe that Clay is a unique talent. Why does it matter that he was "discovered" on a TV show? Does it matter that Mariah Carey was "discovered" by supposedly giving her demo tape to someone at a party? Gladys Knight said herself on AI when she was a judge that she started on a talent show too! There are all different ways to be "discovered", and imo, being on a TV talent show does not invalidate anybody's talent or make it less than others. I do think, though, that Clay's rabid fan base may not have come about without the TV show, because for him, it turned out to be the perfect mechanism for the American public to discover his talent as a singer and his magnetism as a performer.

[John]

It definitely doesn't guarantee success. But no one would even know the name "Clay Aiken", much less be waiting in anticipation to buy his CD, were it not for the show. And that doesn't just go for Clay, that goes for everyone associated with AI.

The style of music's just not my bag - I'd rather spend my money on the new Metallica CD - but is he really a great singer who just never got discovered, or has his style grown on people as they become more and more obsessed with him?

Let's take Ruben, for example. He fronts a band. They play gigs. He's been doing "the scene", and apparently never really hit it big. If he were to have released a CD before the show, I wouldn't expect to see more than 10,000 units sell. But post-show, with no improvement in his voice or style, still doing what he does, I would expect him to go platinum. The 990,000 difference in sales units is 100% because of this show.

[graycat11]

Originally posted by pepper
It won't surprise me if Ruben's CD is released first; I assume the odds that it will be are greater than 50/50. And it will probably be promoted as the AI winner's CD. But not because the winner of AI deserves preferential treatment. It will be because RCA thinks that's the best way of getting big sales numbers.

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I don't think that promoting Ruben's album as the AI2 winner album will alone be enough to boost sales, look what happened to his single. We already know he's the winner (title wise). But who knows? Maybe his fans rather buy his album than his single??

JMO

[graycat11]

Originally posted by Silvy
Nah. Clay is VERY much still a dork.

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Not quite as dorky, lol, but isn't he the cutest DORK? WINKING here

[graycat11]

Originally posted by htp
I can't see how slightly delaying Clay's CD will hurt his success.

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It won't. I hope his album does come out in September.

[ldmarie]

You are right - John, but I think more likely in Ruben's case, AI will have helped him succeed the most. I believe that if Clay had pushed himself into music, say, as Nora Jones did by doing it "the hard way", he could have had the same success, albeit at a much slower pace.
Nora's music might not be your bag either, but eventually her unique voice grew on people and slowly she made it to the top of the charts. I don't have the article on her history anymore, so by memory, her CD had been released the same week Cher's last CD was (if that gives you a better idea of how long ago). It might have taken however many # of months for her 1st CD to become popular (much longer than the norm, nowadays), but her 2nd CD will shoot up the charts now that she is well-known.
Clay got lucky falling into AI, but I have a feeling if he chosen music over teaching, his unique voice/talent would have produced eventual success much as Nora Jones.

[graycat11]

Originally posted by Clayaholic
If Ruben was good enough to be named the winner, then it shouldn't matter if another contestant has a cd out there at the same time. They shouldn't be worrying that Clay's is gonna sweep right past Ruben's (as many posts here would indicate) if they're released simulaneously. Could it be that TPTB might not be so sure that Ruben's would "win" in the battle of the charts and that they need that "win" to be vindicated?

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I think that TPTB are exactly what you pointed out, worrying, they're not sure that Ruben will win in the battle of the charts so they're delaying releasing Clay's album. After all the hyping for Ruben to win, it would be a little embarrassing for the big wigs.

[ClaysAngel]

Originally posted by cali
Clay does nothing for me. His voice is good, but I honestly always thought that the reason people freaked out so much over it was simply because he didn't look like he could sing well.

Funny, I played Clay's demo CD's at a family party recently (my family is huge, by the way). Only my one Aunt had watched AI2, yet everyone was impressed with Clay's voice. I'm talking 3 generations of non-AI fans raving over this voice.

They loved him without even knowing about the makeover, the competition, his incredibly giving nature, etc...

So maybe, just maybe, it IS all about the voice.

[graycat11]

I don't think Clay's singing, popularity is just a passing fancy. He showed this when he sang BOTW, it was the BEST performance I've heard in a very long time.