IP Democracy: "American Idol" to Sell Video Performances Online

Over at IP Media Monitor (disclosure: my pub), Paige Albiniak has this great piece on the “American Idol” empire and how the web properties for the hot show are doing just as much a bang-up business as the TV franchise is. (Traffic quadrupled on the americanidol.com web site after the show’s premiere and all the would-be idols maintain their own promotional MySpace — naturally — pages, etc., etc.)

What’s really interesting is that the show’s producers plan to sell video performances (presumably via download) of the contestants on the americanidol.com site shortly after they air on the show. One big hurdle that the show has to overcome: gaining the clearances from the songwriters or music rights holders.

Last year, King [Jeff King, Fox Interactive Media President] and his staff tested the idea in the show’s last eight days. It was wildly successful, selling some 170,000 downloads in just over a week. But doing that requires legally clearing each of the songs for sale with the publishers and artists, which can be a tricky feat. And if each performer remaining on the show doesn’t have a song cleared, King feels it isn’t right to offer any songs.

“We take the integrity of the show very seriously,” he says. “In our photo gallery section or contestant section, we make sure we treat every contestant fairly. If we have a picture of one contestant, we have to have pictures of everyone who remains in the contest.”

“American Idol’s” fans are so loyal that they complain if they feel their favorite isn’t getting treated equally. “This fan base is really rabid and active,” he says.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on February 5, 2007 5:17 PM to IP Democracy