After two years of releasing the debut albums from “American Idol” winners in the Christmas rush, BMG is returning to a fall release for the newest champ, David Cook.
Cook has been signed to 19 Recordings/RCA Records and is preparing to start recording his debut album which is due for release in the fall.
Cook, whose first single, "The Time Of My Life" skyrocketed to No. 1 on iTunes, will be recording his album over the summer while on the road with the American Idol Live tour. Tour kicks off on July 1 in Glendale, Ariz. — hometown of last year’s winner Jordin Sparks — and wraps Sept. 13th in Tulsa, Okla.
“The Time Of My Life” sold 236,000 digital tracks in four days, making it the best single debut of an “American Idol” since season two. Cook currently has 17 tracks on the top 100 digital songs chart, a record for a single artist.
Sparks, who won season 6, posted all-time lows for first week sales and chart position when her self-titled Jive album was released on Nov. 20 (119,000/No. 10). Sparks has had a slow and steady build in her sales; album is currently No. 19 and has sold 778,000 copies.
Contrast that with Taylor Hick's debut, which was released Dec. 16, 2006 and sold nearly three times as many albums as Sparks's disc did in its first week - 298,000 - but has current cumes of slightly more than  700,000 sold. He is no longer signed to BMG.
After the label signing spree of season 5 - Daughtry, Elliott Yamin, Katharine McPhee and Mandisa (she's singing gospel) - season 6 finalists were greeted with considerable caution as only the top two received contracts with BMG. The winner gets one automatically with the distributor; the only decision is which label gets the winner.
It is highly likely that runner-up David Archuleta will wind up within the label group - he seems like a natural for Arista Records. Beyond that, it seems unlikely that the tour will result in major label deals.