According to the Hollywood Reporter, the American Idol alum has lost his home at Jive Records, his label since 2008. The Season 7 finalist made a poor showing with his recent album—2010′s The Other Side of Down—which only sold 67,000 copies as of February 18.
Feb 19
2011
02:31 PM ET
David Archuleta dropped by record label
- Comments 214
- Add comment
Latest News
- 'American Idol': The top 24 are...
- 'Idol': Replay MJ Santilli's top 24 chat
- Abby Elliott eyes Fox comedy pilot
- 'Survivor': Nina talks 'vapid' Kat
- 'Good Deeds' vs. 'Act of Valor' at box office
- 'John Carter': Taylor Kitsch's short hair?!
- Stevie Nicks to guest on 'Up All Night'
- Billy Crystal talks Oscars: See EW cover
Most Commented
- Chris Harrison blogs 'The Bachelor' episode 8 693
- Miranda Lambert tells Chris Brown to 'take notes' during 'Gunpowder and Lead' performance 616
- Father Knows Best? 608
- Amanda Knox signs a massive book deal with HarperCollins 596
- Rihanna and Chris Brown release simultaneous remixes, guest on each others' new tracks 460
The poor kid just did not have the backing and the songs to make the sales…they focued on the ont he winner who is not that good…
David Archuleta & David Cook are still way better than the entire season 9.
I almost agree, but there is one exception. Crystal Bowersox.. Great cd!
Crystal’s CD is excellent. I’m looking forward to something new from David Cook. I’m not into Archie’s style of music, but he has a great voice and I respect his talent. Another label will pick him up soon enough.
Poor David, that sucks. I love his voice and songs. Whatever…jive is lame anyway. jive employees are greedy lame schmucks who work with people like the crazy schmuck Britney Spears!!!!!!!!! David deserves better than stupid jive.
JIVE TURKEY
I THINK DAVID IS A GOOD ROLE MODEL, CLEAN CUT WITH A GREAT VOICE.
Both Davids have amazing voices with different styles. I love the mellow tones of David Archuleta and the image he projects for today’s youth. He truly is a role model.
Screw being a role model, the kid simply didn’t get the backing he deserved, as his debut is one of the best Idol albums yet.
Unlike Bowersox’s album, which is mediocre at best…and just about every critic in the country agrees.
Anyway, I hope Archuleta finds a new home, as his voice is far too good to be wasted. What he needs is a scandal…if sleeping with paris Hilton gets him back in the spotlight, I’ll forgive him. However, if he sleeps with Adam Lambert, that would be awesome
he’s a cutie pie! i want to console him.
American Idol is a huge FAIL.
I am so sick of the new “slang” usage of the word ‘fail’…
And the same 3 trolls who make up 75% of all the comments on this site.
Claudefail
“New” slang? That’s been around for years. Welcome to the 21st Century.
Uh, it really hasn’t.
Uh, it really has. It was added to Urban Dictionary in ’03 and dates back to the ’90s in video game slang. So, Joe . . . FAIL.
It’s not american idol’s fault, it’s the record label.. american idol made him a star…
@ Lila – Are you kidding? Archeletta was good, but David Cook is amazing. Wait and see what happens when his new album comes out!
Cook was the winner, he’ll have over the top promo. Something David A. never had.
Djafan, if the runner up is good then they’ll still be able to perform well in terms of sales after the show has ended. Chris Daughtry and Adam Lambert are very good examples of this. Archuleta probably has not done well because he was never a very captivating, interesting, or unique performer.
Yeah Lila he might get dropped too if his album doesn’t do well,what year was it last when he had an album?
Lorelei, only an ignorant person spells a word or a name wrong after seeing it spelled correctly within a headline or news item. It’s not Archeletta, it’s Archuleta.
…and only a nitpicky a**hole would choose to focus on something that was not even close to being the point of the comment.
David Cook won the season. OF COURSE he would get the focus. Get a clue, Lilia!
Are you even serious? David Cook is awesome, he sold 1.3 million and has a 2nd cd coming out this May!
Both of them are mediocre talents at best.
David Cook is an awesome talent. If you can’t or won’t notice that, then you don’t have an ear for music. In his short career, he’s already gone platinum.
David Cook is fantastic. His album went platinum and I bet his new one will too. Archie is great too and he’ll find success..
No way no how lil’ Archie will ever be able to compete with the big guns of pop music today or ever. He should go in a different direction with gospel or maybe Latin. Good luck to him – but I’m not placing any bets on him.
I really like David’s cd “the Other Side of Down.” It’s much better than the first pop album. The lead single got no airplay. Is airplay really all about payola?
Errrr…isn’t he the homegrown original Justin Bieber? Why go gaga over a Canadian when you have a superior American?!?
Archuleta isn’t as entertaining, talented or interesting as Beiber. Who cares that it’s the Canadian who is the superior talent? You have to take your talent where you find it or you won’t have much to pick from. Archuleta needs to build his audience on the religious circuit because that is what his beliefs are and that is where he comes from and who he will be best appreciated by. It is a more limited audience as far as numbers go but it’s a devoted one. Beiber is not constricted by dogmatic religious beliefs… which is fine with me since I am the same way.
Everyone knows that Archuleta had the religious vote and they took it as a point of pride to vote nonstop ’til their little holy digits bled…..David Cook is known by all to be the superior talent and he will do just fine.
arugula, aren’t you thinking about the guy that beat Lambert? He was an out-in-the-open Christian who shocked everyone when he won. He also got along just fine with Adam Lambert.
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. As an artist David Archuleta is not a pimple on David Cook’s bum.
Could you have taken any more space with that ridiculous opening? Its LOL or LMAO. What century are you in?
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah at dumbass rick!
What the hell does pimple on David Cook’s bum mean?!?!?!?!?! Try explaining things better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“Poor Kid”, really, he got what he deserved, he wasn’t that great. When are these AI kids gonna realize that the majority of them will never excel to the next level, stardom, except for only a few who have moved on!
“they focued on the ont he winner who is not that good…”
Your horrid spelling and musical taste aside, who do you expect them to focus on most?
Great singer, crappy music. He should come out (we all know he is gay)
Yes we all know! Plus it proves that David Cook was the right winner!
The notion that Archuleta might be gay means that David Cook is the right winner? How the hell do you get that?
I don’t think that’s what efrain meant.
EFrain, you moron. I did not mean “gay” in the childish way that most people use the word nowadays…I meant “homosexual”. I do think his music is crappy and lame, which is one thing, and I am positive he is a homosexual guy. Nothing wrong with that, mind you. But maybe coming out publicly will help his record sales? Then again, Ricky martin just came out, and both his album and coming-out tell-talle book are collecting dust on shelves across America…
Why the hell do you care if he admits to being gay????? It’s no ones business but his. The only ones that should have full control on what he admits to and how he lives his life is god and himself. Not you, not Jive, not his manager dad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@ Joe “I am positive he is a homosexual guy”:
What makes you positive? Did he suck your kock?
“(we all know he is gay)”
What a moron.
“(we all know he’s gay)”
What a moron.
Actually, Archuleta is not a moron, just gay.
He’s not gay.
He’s not gay. I know him.
Well, if you know him, then you should have voted for him, but apparently you didn’t, right cookielov?
It’s not like the new Dylan or new Springsteen has been dropped. Another crappy poppy singer who didn’t even make a dent on the international leve.
Don’t compare Springsteen or Dylan to Archeleta.
He wasn’t comparing them.
He was comparing them as if to say that they are incomparbale. Whereas Springsteen and Dylan have made an indelible mark on the music business and millions of lives, David #2 is just a here-one-moment-gone-the-next pop singer. Thats the point @rocknmovies was trying to make. And it’s a very valid point.
I beg to differ! David not only went platinum with his first album,but also had a successful tour not to mention a successful Christmas album and tour not to mention he has won a total of 5 Teen Choice Awards and won the New artist award at the Latin Grammys not to mention a Best selling memoir and Just one more thing<The Best Fans you could ever want!!! So whatcha got? Bring it!
Hahaha yes because I totally forgot that musical artistry and success is judged by the number of Teen Choice Awards that an artist has aquired. Ugh, even though that comment was sarcastic, I’m gonna have to sing along to the entirety of Sonic Youth’s “Daydream Naton” just to get the foul taste of blasphemy out of my mouth.
That was before there was any competition.
David Archuleta is a wonderful vocal talent and an even better person. I was confused by the non-promotion of David’s second pop offering by Jive Records after the strong sales of his initial record and his seasonal release ‘Christmas From The Heart’. I truly believe with David’s A&R rep leaving Jive along with many others including the label president, this Sony imprint just did not know what to do with David as he does not fit well with their current roster. David was not ‘dropped’ but ‘released’. He provided Jive with the three CD’s he was contracted for. Perhaps a label such as Decca Records (Universal) would be a better fit. Best of luck to a great vocalist. Onward and upward David!
When they “released” him, he “dropped” a few links down the celebrity food chain.
prd9601…you are the only person on this blog who understands what is going on..David is incredibly talented, handsome, amiable and kind hearted. I have to laugh at people who consider themselves so “cool” ….please grow up….life is about supporting those around you..and being positive…something wrong out there.
I’m sure David #2 is a quality human being, although I’d never know, seeing as I’ve never met the guy, so I’ll reserve my judgements on his character. However I will make judgements on the one thing that I do know about the kid (haha I’m calling him kid when I’m only a few years older than him…d*mn I didn’t want to be that guy!): His music. And honestly: it isn’t that great. It’s lukewarm bubblegum pop that attempts to be “sophisticated”. David #2 could be a great guy-h*ll, for all I know he could be the reincarnation of Ghandi!-but I’m simply not a fan of his music, and I’m simply trying to get people to open up to more mature, intelligent and genuinely emotional musical tastes, thats all.
I guess what I’m trying to say is: It sucks that the dude lost his job, for that he has my sympathy, but when there are so many incredibly talented, raw musicians out there that haven’t even gotten a tenth of the attention that he has, it makes me a bit sore. Maybe its a good thing that David lost this job. It now means that there is an open spot that could possibly (not likely, but possibly) be filled by a band or artist with more talent and universally-cathartic song-writing capabilities, and now David can move on with his life and use his true talents (his honesty, charm and likablity) to go out there and do something different that will actually make a difference in the world. I’m glad that I will hopefully never be forced to listen to his annoying voice again, but I wish him all the best luck in life.
he will find a new home. No worries
Well, he is not the first to be dropped. Taylor Hicks, Ruben Studdard, Katherine McPhee, Justin Guarini, Blake Lewis and Fantasia Barrino were all dropped by their labels.
Fantasia was dropped by 19 not by “J.”
Fantasia is still on J Records. She changed management people by leaving 19 and going to a different manager.
And sadly, you’ve proven a point. Not one of those people you mentioned, with the exception of Fantasia, actually has a career.
They all have careers, just not on the pop chart. McPhee just signed a sitcom deal. Hicks runs his own record label. Guarini was recently on Broadway with Patti LuPone & Brian Stokes-Mitchell (the show closed, but that was not the performers’ fault). Blake Lewis is a successful dance club musician in the northwest. Anyone who no longer needs a day job to support themselves got something good out of “Idol.”
Deke … while I understand your point of view, I disagree. Everyone listed made it pretty far into AI’s top 10 (if not becoming the AI), and yet, where are any of them? Blake is a musician in the northwest. Big deal. You never hear about him or Reuben or Taylor, both of whom were actually AIs. They get their 15 minutes, and then disappear into oblivion. It underscores that AI is a popularity contest and not really a talent contest. The Kellys and the Carries (both of whom are very talented) are the exception, not the rule.
You nailed it right on the head! Well said!
@ Just Saying: You have a very limited definition of success. Taylor Hicks netted (not grossed, but took home) $4 million last year. Blake Lewis makes his own music his own way and probably earns more money than anyone posting on this board. If that’s what it’s like to live in oblivion, save me a room there.
I am pretty confident that Blake Lewis is not making more than me. As a musician in the northwest. And as for my definition of oblivion, I mean they are not foremost in the public eye. I stand by that comment.
Not sure where the “Blake Lewis is a musician in the northwest” came from. He tours nationally and internationally, and per Billboard “CAN’T BEAT BLAKE: Beat boxing “American Idol” alum Blake Lewis bounds 5-1 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Airplay chart with “Heartbreak on Vinyl.” The song topped the Dance/Club Play Songs survey last month.
With No. 1s on his resume on each chart, Lewis is the first former “American Idol” contestant to top each tally.”
That is such BS, concocted by Taylor Hicks’ fans. They only way he woud’ve netted 4 million in one year is if he had robbed a bank. With absolutely ZERO album sales, no songs playing on the radio,absolutely no buzz or presence in pop culture, which means no magazine covers and no major tours or endorsements, there’s no way in hell he would have grossed 400k, let alone 4 million. Get down from your fan-fumes-laced clowd. And for the Blake Kewis fan…the dance/club play is the lesser of all Billboard charts. All it does is calculate what songs are playing in a very select few dance clubs, a very nichey segment that has zero bearing on what albums are sold.
I live in Seattle, and Blake Lewis was at Neumo’s (a small club in Fremont) last year. He was one of many acts that night, and trust me this is not making his career. He sucked. Most people walked out. He barely sang songs, just messing around with his auto recorder by himself and laying cool “beats”.
labels are idiots- instead of building and keeping actual talent they produce crap like kesha, justin bieber, selena gomez…
Labels care about making money. If the music isn’t selling, then they are not making money. Bieber makes money, Kesha makes money.
It *is* all about sales, and what Archuletta was selling, no one was buying.
exactly.
Frankly, Archuleta is a little creepy and not a little socially retarded. I’m really not sure who was buying his droopy up-with-people nearly religious songs, but obviously most people agree it’s not them. The kid can sing, but… ditch the parental overlords, go away, get a life, get laid, and then come back in a couple years.
you suck
Not everyone lives life like that Tarc. You need to realize that the world has more opinions, morals, values, and ways of life than your own.
This is what is lacking in the industry for artists, they have no morals. AND they use autotune-which is cheating talented artists like Archuleta who can, every single time, sing on key live and in the studio.
And those “”"nearly religious songs”"” gave more inspiration to others to live life to the fullest than to rot my life brushing their teeth with a bottle of jack.
Thank you, Katie, that was well said.
Katie I’ll grant you the whole autotune madness, but since when has the industry ever been driven by morals? Inspiration is in the eye of the beholder, if you like those “religious tunes” then good for you, but be open minded enough to understand that people get their inspiration listening to Jonas Brothers as well as Metallica. The industry is lacking people who recognize talent with an emphasis on making money, which is what we all here to do for someone or ourselves.
You’re very narrow-minded. David n jive parted ways mutually when the contract expired, they hadn’t been getting along for a while. He’s talented and will be signed by a more suitable label. Your rudeness says a lot about u as a person.
AMEN.
Kate -Right back at ya on the ‘moral’ and ‘respecting other peoples opinions’. It’s also astonishingly self-righteous (and just incorrect) to state that other have no ‘moral’ – they just don’t share yours (and if they are like me, they frequently laugh hysterically at yours). If you like pendantic, fake, naieve up-with-people-songs, you’re welcome to all of them. And hey, I hate Kesha as much as Archuletta’s sappy music – neither are worthwhile. Kylie – Actually, I’m quite broad-minded: I just can’t stand stupidity, bad songwriting, and insipidly fake and rather nauseating ‘inspirational’ music. If Archuletta was liked and/or sold enough, he would have been offered a new contract. Deal. Finally, there is a difference is stating a (well-supported) opinion and being rude: case in point, my comment and yours.
Elevator which is a single on his last album is one of the best written songs of the past ten years. It certainly describes whats going on in the world today if your head isnt up your ass. You can never really express how good lyrics are. So I just say have another listen and you might understand why your slagging is a little off. David will only grow. Hes definitely young and is maturing. His singing, attitude, songs, self awareness will only get better. Cheers to David and cheers to a brighter day.
I find it fascinating when people say Archuleta makes them feel creepy. What it really is is that Archuleta can make listeners feel things with his music, like hope and faith. People who are not in that place emotionally wouldn’t know what those feelings are and are freaked out when they feel them.
redialsend – What is it about you bizarre, overly-religious people that makes you think that you have a corner on the market of ‘hope’ and ‘faith’. It’s a load of nonsense – and marks you as ridiculously uninformed. Archuletta comes off as creepy to a whole lot of people of a whole lot of walks, religious or not. ‘Creepy’ is the mind’s way of expressing undefinable wrongness, so t’s incredibly unlikely that something is up. Like a 20 year old that never moves more than 20′ from his dad… or can’t handle normal social interactions without guidance, or maybe even someone that’s practically backward their idea of ‘swearing’ is “Oh, my gorsh!” Archuletta can sing quite well – it’s all of the rest that’s offputting.
Do us a favor and take your own advice.
Neither of David Archileta’s pop albums included songs that were even remotely religious.
LOL! Maggie – Ditto, and bite me. *smirks* And Suzanne, no one said they had. They both include sappy fake, up-with-people ‘inspirational’ junk – which his what was written.
Tarc, you make my point, thanks.
Actually, I don’t redialsend, but, hey, that brainwashed obliviousness seems to be working for you. Again, to think you have some type of secret ownership over the ideas of ‘hope’ and ‘faith’, which, of course, is (typically American pseudo-Christian) nonsense.
Again, thanks for giving another exclamation point to my point. Very lovely.
I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have baited you, it was just so easy, and, like I said, I find the whole phenomena fascinating. I hope you get the help you need to work out your emotional problems.
I’ve heard worst pop crap they have on those major labels other than Kesha–it’s the lesser known singers with crappy pop songs that they also promote.
It’s scary to think about music worse than Kesha. Ugh. I’d buy neither her or Archuletta – at least until he grows up.
Well in defense, I was one of the 67,000 fortunate people to get David’s album. It’s a much better album than his debut, it’s more uptempo ( a few songs have this Taio Cruz/ Jason Derulo dance pop patchwork to them) and outdoes the mostly midtempo ballad debut. I think that Jive wanted better results from David’s second, let alone a second gold or his first platinum album and it failed. I also think that the floods of big name albums in November crushed his sales and made him tank down the chart. Sometimes being on a major label doesn’t help (they probably lost a million dollars for every slow sales week he had)–he needs to go on an independent label. But it’s a tough music business and anybody that’s coming off of Idol needs to be prepared for the big time if they want to be a recording artist. Those companies will drop you like flies!
Poor boy. David is very talented. I wish him the best.
One thing I didn’t like was David’s overprotective father, Jeff Archuleta, his manager, who wore that annoying hat who was always backstage the year he competed. Even telling the band how to handle the song his son was performing, even right down to the arrangement. They later kicked him out! I also think that same overprotectiveness and manipulation from Jeff also led David to be dropped from the label. He and Joe Simpson (who manages Jessica Simpson and Ashlee Simpson Wentz) are like the same person with the manipulation and overprotectiveness. As if he doesn’t trust David to be with more experienced management and professionals.
I doubt it was that he doesn’t trust more experienced management, he doesn’t want to pay them. He is your typical exploitive parent who has no idea what he’s doing and thinks he has the most talented kid (he doesn’t), so why pay someone when you can do it yourself and annoy everyone around you??
It’s always very disturbing when an adult can’t let go of their children (and let then grow up). It’s creepy and destructive.
That was what, 3 years ago? Maybe it’s time to let it go.
from all reports, it was the same three minutes ago as it was three years ago.
Jeff Archileta has not been David’s manager since release of the first album right after season 7.
I think that the excitement of a singer’s first album a few months after perfoming on an American Idol season isn’t there anymore. It’s not like the big years of Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken, Fantasia, Carrie Underwood and even Chris Daughtry’s band Daughtry who had strong selling albums. And more and more of them are getting dropped because of declining sales especially David Archuleta. They just don’t want to have that feeling of hearing a cheesy cover performance like on TV and want to hear the same thing on the album.
I think all of Daughtry’s songs sound the same. They will sink fast in today’s climate. Notice how many “artists” are in line to hook up with the hip hop singers & producers.
I didn’t buy entire album but I bought the lead single off his 2nd album “Something ‘Bout Love” and think it was better than his first single “Crush”. I just think it wasn’t promoted enough.
I agree with Anthony, that lead single was excellent and I bought it too. If JIVE had promoted it properly, it could have easily been a Top 10 hit. Frankly I think they “dropped” him from the label, before the album dropped.
You are so right. I never heard “Something about Love” on the radio, and it was a REALLY good song…they didn’t promote him at all. He is very talented. And it’s nice not having a kid who turns into Lindsay or Britney.
Get this kid on Broadway or something! I think he’d do well in theater; I don’t know about acting skills but at least he’d be in a place where his voice will be appreciated.
He’ll probably end up on Broadway someday. He’s got the chops for it. Right now, it might be hard to find Broadway-style roles for a guy his age. When he hits leading man age, he could get a shot.
Too bad Jive didn’t do anything to support The Other Side of Down. Great cd. Interesting how some people here talk about him like he is still the same 16-yr old kid who tried out for Idol. He’s 20 now and this guy is amazing in person total control of the crowd – very charismatic. Just check out current youtubes. @davidarchie is a musician’s musician, a singer’s singer and a terrific guy on stage. Wonder why other singers like Adele who hardly follow anyone follow him? He tweeted about her long ago. This guy is music.
They were still talking about him the same way in interviews about his stint on Idol when he was 16 and not thinking forward with his new music. Even up to the SECOND album, they were still saying “We loved you on Idol” without focusing on his new songs. Still one foot on the past while David is focused on the future. That confusion must had led to him being dropped from the label because of lack of promotion.
David’s gonna be fine. He’s got more talent in his pinky than most artists, and an incredibly dedicated fanbase behind him. What he didn’t have was label support, and a team of people who understood who he is. JIVE wanted David to be someone who he isn’t, & didn’t know how to market him when he said no. They did absolutely no promo for “The Other Side of Down”, which is actually a really good album! Y’all should buy it!
Everyone who hears TOSOD really likes it. But ppl can’t buy music they haven’t heard, & they can’t hear it if it’s not on the radio. That was JIVE’s problem, not David’s.
Ppl need to know that JIVE’s in a bit of chaos, too. When TOSOD was released, their CEO Barry Weiss resigned, and David’s A&R manager had announced he was leaving, too. I think TOSOD got lost in the shuffle. So how JIVE can blame that on David is beyond me.
As a fan, I’m just excited for this new phase of his career.
Even if David’s “incredibly dedicated fanbase” was ten times the size of what “The Other Side Of Down” sold (and I do consider an incredibly dedicated fanbase to not require much promotion to know their idol’s album is out), that’s not lucrative enough for most labels.