[新闻] 美国偶像大幅削减对亚军及以下选手投入

'American Idol' moves toward lower payouts for runners-up
Sunday, May 27, 2012
By ANTHONY McCARTNEY ~ The Associated Press
http://www.semissourian.com/story/1853796.html

"It makes sense. You can't continue to offer the same sorts of rewards and incentives when the program was averaging 25 to 30 million (viewers), and (now) the finale is barely breaking 20 million," said Northwestern University assistant professor Max Dawson, who teaches a course on reality television. Wednesday's finale was the lowest-rated final show for "Idol" in its history.
"These contracts don't pay off," he said, contrasting the long list of "Idol" alumni who have been dropped by record labels with those who have thriving careers. "It see***ike the successes that people like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood have had are the flukes."
He noted that the recording industry has shifted toward single song sales in recent years, and even established artists are struggling to sell full albums. "I wouldn't be surprised, quite frankly, if this is the direction they head with the winners," Dawson said.
Buyers purchased nearly 1.3 billion single songs last year as opposed to 331 million albums, said Dave Bakula, Nielsen's senior vice president of analytics for SoundScan. He noted that there have been some successful "Idol" runners-up, but producers appear to be giving themselves more flexibility with how they develop artists in different genres.