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This isn't just about Katharine but it's just Randy talking about the record and the artists on it, his life and career, the music business, Idol, and it's just kinda interesting.
http://www.mp3.com/news/stories/11049.html
"So it kind of came up like that. It was kind of just very natural. And I also wanted to put people in different lights that you don't see them in. For the duet with Elliott [Yamin] and Katharine [McPhee] from Idol, I just want people to know how talented these two really are."
I'm curious how many American Idol contestants in your six years would you say have the talent to sustain a 20-, 30-, 40-year career?
Well that's the whole thing. To me, American Idol has searched for the would-be undiscovered superstar, right? I think a lot of these kids have the ability to really try and become career artists, but I think what you have to do is set that benchmark yourself. Winning a show just gets you in the ring. It allows you in the ring with the greats [that are] boxing, so you can say, "You know what, I'm going to put my toe in this ring now. I've won this show, gone through the ranks and all the criticism and everything by the public and the judges. I now stand before you trying to put my toe in the ring." It's now up to them to try and create their own artistry. I said to someone earlier today, "To me an artist is those people that can have a career that they don't even have to have records out." Being a great artist is beyond records. You take the Grateful Dead. They could have not had a record out, and they could have played 30 shows in San Francisco in the same giant stadium and have been sold out every day.
Yeah.
The Dave Matthews Band can just announce a tour, and it's not about record sales at that point. People turn out to see artists no matter where they are or whatever they're going to do. So it's a very different kind of a thing. So to me, that is definitely the question. I think a lot of these people have shots at being artists, but they got to prove it, and there's a long way to go. Winning Idol is maybe the first step because it's the rocket ship to the top. All these kids were obviously out there trying to make it on their own. But this is the real rocket ship to the top and then you go for it.
After that comes the hard work.
Yeah. It's hard to become one of those career artists. And unfortunately, with today's music scene, we're not building a lot of legendary career artists anymore. So it's a little bit unfortunate. That's one of the most downsides for me about the music business as of today.
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