Katharine McPhee, Taylor Hicks Dropped from Labels

Katharine McPhee — whose self-titled disc debuted at No. 2 (which hasn’t gone gold yet despite being released nearly a year ago) — has been dropped by her label, a rep for RCA has confirmed.

Two days before: Taylor Hicks — who beat out McPhee on season five — was dropped by his label, J Records.

Late last year, ex-champ Ruben Studdard of season 2 also exited his contract with J Records.

What gives?

“I think the industry has seen that unless these artists can churn out strong enough original material, they don’t really have that much traction once we don’t see them on television week after week singing songs we already know and love,” Rollingstone.com editor Caryn Ganz tells Usmagazine.com.

“The majority of major-label artists fail to make a splash — the Idols may have gotten these record deals through less conventional means, but they're falling victim to the same woes now that they're playing the same game as everyone else,” she adds.

The seventh season of Idol premieres Tuesday.

Tell Us: Did you buy Katharine McPhee or Taylor Hick’s album?

DISCLAIMER: This posting was submitted by a user of the site not from The Insider editorial staff. All users have acknowledged and agreed that the submission of their story and its contents is in compliance with our Terms of Use.