I don’t know about you, but I never wondered how much American Idol offers to pay to license a song for their show. But now that I know, I don’t know why any artist says yes.
Stephen Bishop’s wife and manager, Liz Kamlet, made a TikTok and shared how much they are offering to use his single On and On for the show during auditions and performances for one year in America and two years internationally, in commercials, on talk shows and podcasts, and in repeats on streaming.
She prefaced the amount by saying that everyone is offered the same price. So, what is this magical number? Are you sitting down? It is…drum roll please…$500.
Since her husband was in the room with her, she asked if he would accept their offer. What is his answer since he owns his music catalog? Just as you suspected, “No!”
Then she asked if his streaming numbers ever went up after one of his songs was featured in any media. His answer was the same. Therefore, proving that he would not benefit from it that way and thus justifying their low-ball number.
So, I guess the ABC singing competition will have to find another artist who will say yes to $500.
Even Robert Johnson would’ve said no to that amount in 1937. If you don’t know who he is, look him up!
Back to Kamlet, she did bring the receipts to show that was all they were going to give him. Do you think the Bishops made the right choice by rejecting the money?
