How many people know when Ruben Studdard’s album “Soulful” will drop? Hell, who knew the name of the album before reading this?
If you’re like me, the only way to find the Dec. 9 release date is by looking at CDNow.com.
The “American Idol” winner appears to be playing second fiddle to runner-up Clay Aiken. Aiken’s CD, “Measure of a Man,” debuted topping the Billboard 200 after its Oct. 14 release by selling 613,000 copies.
I cannot understand how the winner of “American Idol” receives less attention, press coverage and promotion than Aiken.
I tried to get answers to this and many other questions by contacting Studdard’s management at J Records.
As a journalist, I wanted to know what factors played into having Studdard’s CD come out significantly later than Aiken’s and if there’s any animosity toward Aiken based on his popularity.
But the spokespeople for J Records still have refused to reply to numerous e-mails and phone calls.
If Studdard’s management refuses to help gain him publicity, his music career will be over before it even starts.
Unfortunately for Studdard, other factors play into his downward spiral.
Let’s examine the Internet.
Studdard doesn’t even have an official Web site. He has one page on J Records’ official Web site. The only information listed is completely out of date.
Aiken’s Web site, www.clayaiken.com, contains up-to-date information including news and appearances.
Another indication Studdard is fighting a losing battle is the amount of search engine hits. By searching Yahoo.com, Aiken receives approximately 144,000 hits, while Studdard only receives about 28,000.
Also, there was a promotional campaign about one month before Aiken’s CD dropped. Aiken appeared on the covers of numerous magazines before Studdard including “Rolling Stone” and television shows like “TRL” and “The Tonight Show.”
Where is Studdard’s promotional campaign? He’s not appearing on any magazine covers or appearing on late night talk shows.
It just seems like J Records, a subsidiary of BMG Records, is holding Studdard back.
Even though I personally promote equality among all people, it feels like Studdard’s race is playing a part in his lack of promotion.
Hear me out. Let’s look at “American Idol’s” first winner and runner up.
We all know Kelly Clarkson is the first American Idol winner. Not everyone knows of Justin Guarini, who is bi-racial — African-American and white.
The first winner received plenty of press coverage and promotion for her first album. Guarini released a CD one year after Clarkson did.
Hardly anyone knew Guarini had an album. Most people just knew he did a very bad movie with Clarkson that bombed in the theaters.
Now let’s analyze this situation.
Studdard, an African-American, is the second American Idol winner. His runner-up is, for all intents and purposes, white.
Unlike the previous competition, the winner’s CD was not released first. Aiken’s CD was the big first release.
Just like Clarkson, Aiken received all the media attention after the competition was over.
And where is Studdard in all this mess?
I don’t know because I have not seen any commercials, magazine covers or anything with Studdard in it.
Does this sound like any other previous American Idol star? If you’re thinking like me, it sounds a lot like Guarini and his CD release campaign.
Don’t get me wrong. This is not solely a black – and – white issue because numerous possibilities are out there.
One possibility is which Idol star won the competition.
Many out there claimed Aiken really won the competition because his voters could not get through the phone lines.
Perhaps the higher-ups decided to release Aiken first because of this controversy, especially if people are claiming he really won.
Also, look at their record labels. Aiken’s label is RCA and Studdard’s is the lesser-known J Records, both subsidiaries of BMG.
Clarkson and Guarini are signed with RCA, but only Aiken is signed to RCA. Why isn’t Studdard signed with RCA as well?
Either way, maybe RCA had more money to spend on Aiken than J Records does for Studdard.
I don’t know, but it’s not fair to Studdard or his fans who voted for him to be forced to wait for this CD to drop.
I guess we’ll never know the real reasons behind these decisions for Studdard’s career. Thank you to the ever-cooperative J Records. (COUGH, COUGH).