Making it her own

[mercfan3]

Interesting. I've been wondering how much Haley has to change a song for her to record it with a different label and call it a new song, for the sake of releasing them. It would really be a sham of "Oh My" wasn't a single.

Two things. Although I liked that version of "Free" my favorite is still "The View" version of it. And if Haley had sung it like that on Idol, I honestly think it would have done significantly better.

Second, things still don't add up with her losing her deal.

You don't release "Free" and expect it to be a hit. Particularly when you only release it to HAC. And without a hit, and without an extreme amount of promotion, Haley was not going to sell. So that was just losing money.

Second, Free, particularly the unplugged version, is a classic way to introduce Haley to radio. Get a moderate amount of airplay, and release a song more likely to be a hit. If they were working a "ground up campaign" this would be a fine strategy. But it takes time, effort and money. Interscope knows all of this. So why would you start it, and not at least try the second step? Then add in that Haley was saying there would "Definitely" be a second single. Makes me think that perhaps there was a conflict over what should be the next single, and the split wasn't a drop..but rather Haley having other options, and both choosing to part ways. (Which would be the only way, I would think, Haley would risk losing her record deal over a single choice.)

I suppose the third explanation, besides Interscope being inept and conflict, was that they gave Haley an option. Because she didn't want to do what most idols do and rush out her music, perhaps Interscope gave her control, with the condition that the song they own (Free) be the single, and a moderate financial limit on promotion. And when the time came for a second single, Interscope realized they weren't going to make the money back on Haley's album, and any other song they released she was going to make a lot more money off of, because she wrote them. Thus the financial decision was made to cut ties. Still strange, is this option was pretty much a guarantee to lose money, unless they were hoping that an idol performance and Conan performance (when the album wasn't even out...) would boom sales.