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'American Idol' contract: No relationships, the money break-down
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Have you always wondered what kind of contract the contestants have to sign on "American Idol"? Some major details have leaked.TMZ has obtained a copy of the contestants' contract because a copy was filed in court due to a contestant being a minor, though they don't say from which season.
One major part of the contract is that the contestant has to swear off any fraternizing with the show's celebs. "Neither I nor any members of my family or my friends will enter into any personal, social, business, and or financial relationships with any of the judges, host(s), guest stars ..." is the exact language. The relationship prohibition is required until 6 months after the show stops airing.
Now on the money. The winner gets $175,000 upon winning and another $175,000 upon delivery of an album. From then on, each delivered album nets him or her more money, upon until the sixth album, which pays they between $500,000 and $1 million, depending on the success of the album.
The runner-up gets $150,000 upon taking second and another $150,000 upon delivery of an album. The money goes up from there for the runner-up but is always a little less than the winner's amount. For finishers 3 through 12, if the label signs them, gets $100,000 upon signing and another $100,000 upon album delivery.
Interesting. We would've guessed the amounts for the winner and runner-up would have been more. The other interesting part of the contract is that "American Idol" isn't required to pay incidental expenses during the show's run.
What do you guys think? Illuminating?
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Surely contestants get living and travel expenses paid in some way, at least those who make it to the live shows.
welcome to the record industry, and showbiz :)
Damn.. American Idol is freakin' cheap! Give those kids more money since your racking in the billions. Had no idea about them not being able to work professionally with any of the guest stars. I was hoping Adam would have done something on Slash's new album.
I have heard rumors over the years that the Idol contracts are really cheap in comparison to how much money the show makes for Fox. I guess the thing to remember is that the Fox network makes the most money off advertising/ selling commercials. The record deals are set up by 19E, not Fox, so that's why the numbers seem so low. A lot of past Idols have complained and tried to get out of their record deals, like Clay Aiken and Bo Bice (I'm not sure, but I think these two guys decided to leave, not that 19E dropped them from their labels).
I would have thought that they were getting union scale rates for musical performances, at the very minimum! At $450k per 30 second commercial, paying Simon Cowell $45mm and Ryan Seacrest $15mm per year, there really is no excuse for not paying the minimum, which is currently just $874 per shoot day.
That kind of exploitation disgusts me, and I'm no bleeding heart liberal.
Cancel it already
It's time to end this piece-of-crap show.
Cancel this garbage once and for all.
That was pretty lame, but at least they have rewarded the winner for such a great price after all.
I think they get their living expenses, i.e. housing, food, travel paid but incidentals aren't paid. Some were smart enough to get their own lawyers before they signed contracts so they got away from 19E before some of the others. It was my understanding that they were paid a minimal amount while on the show but I may be wrong. I know they didn't get paid for the hours they spent filming the commercials though.