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NTA is 100% correct.

Even his fans were upset with the album that was put out because they knew it wasn't comparable to the music he had been doing previously.

Taylor's sales were just fine, and were more than most recording artists ever get to see and his tour was almost always sold out at every venue. He's no failure. Plus, his parting with his label was mostly HIS doing, no theirs. They offered a renewal, but he wanted more control. The problem is 19E... if he had renewed, he'd still be under the finger of the deal between the label and 19... and it's no secret that 19 and the AI producers hate Taylor Hicks. They were the ones responsible for his lack of promotion, and the label just did what they wanted to preserve their other deals. It's all politics, really. Taylor has been around the music industry for a long time and he knows how it works, and he knows a bad deal.

He put up with it just long enough to get the national exposure he wanted and he's happily retreated to the smaller focus he wants. His true fans know that he's a niche artist and never expected him to rise to the ranks of stadium musician. He doesn't even want that. The real fans, the ones who get him and his music.. they all understand this and it's no big deal. People just like to think he's a "failure" because they compare him to Daughtry and the others. The difference is that Daughtry fits into the formula of guaranteed money making sheep. As does Carrie and even Kellie. Those are mainstream, popular genres of music that are guaranteed to sell. You can plug several people into those roles and still sell.

The fact is that's Taylor Hicks is very happy where he's at right now. He's working on a new album -- two actually -- and it will be done on his terms with a team he chose. A lot of people seem to think that the only reaons one would leave a record label is because the label "dropped" them -- but that's not always the case. It was really a mutual thing. He wanted something more than what they were going to give him, so he refused to renew the contract. The label was well aware of why he left, even stating, "Taylor is going to record his next album on his own. He is no longer on the J Records roster."

That's a carefully worded statement if there ever were one. They try to make it sound like they were the ones who dropped him, but his fans know that Taylor was the one who actually dropped them. His true fans are pretty happy about it, too. The label was doing him no favors, they never promoted him-- all because of 19 who hated him and spent all of their effort and time promoting Daughtry instead. Winning AI only gets you a recording contract, it doesn't guarantee sales or even promotion. You may think that winning alone is promotion enough...but it's not. They have entire corporations whose sole purpose is to promote artists. Taylor had every justification to refuse a renewal. Oh sure, he got a contract... but he was essentially forced to put out an album, that while decent, isn't what he or his fans really wanted. He had to do it in less than 2 months using other peoples' work. Then he was completely stonewalled and barely promoted. Why would anyone want to stay with a label/production company that treated them that way?

Some of the best artists in the world never broke the top 40. I know that most of my favorite musicians never have.