Rules
Contestants are not permitted to have any current record deals or talent management agreements (though they may have had one at some point in the past). Contestants must be U.S. citizens eligible to work full-time and, for the first three seasons, had to be 16 to 24 years of age on October 19 of the year of audition. Since the fourth season, the upper age limit was raised to 28 with an earlier cutoff date, August 4, to attract more mature and diverse contestants.
Auditioning contestants must bring with them to the audition a valid proof of age and citizenship, such as a birth certificate, driver's license or a passport, and minors under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. All auditioning contestants are required to sign on to the Web at www.americanidol.com and print out a copy of the release form to fill out and turn in at the audition in order to grant permission to be seen and heard by the producers' cameras. Contestants who were found out to have given false information are disqualified. It should be noted that after auditioning - regardless of the outcome (even if eliminated on the very first cut) - contestants are under contract with the show until three months after the final episode.[1]
Others who are ineligible include: those who made the top 40 or farther of past seasons; people employed with affiliates of Fox, Fremantle, 19, (e.g., its sponsors, subsidiaries and parent companies); those holding recording or management contracts and those who are not US citizens or permanent residents. Even if a person is eligible, he or she may not have a chance to audition or be seen because the show can see only a limited number of people in each city.
In an interview with Anderson Cooper on the CBS TV current affairs show 60 Minutes on March 17, 2007 (repeated in extended format on CNN's AC 360 program on March 27, 2007), judge Simon Cowell openly declared that the underlying primary purpose of the Idol franchise (including American Idol) was for 19 Entertainment (the parent corporation that produces the Idol TV shows) to discover new singing talent that can be signed to recording agreements that the corporation maintains with a major record company (Sony/BMG) and benefit from the record sales of contestants and winners who are exposed to the worldwide marketplace through the TV shows. Cowell indicated that revenue from recordings by performers associated with the Idol franchise has already exceeded US $100 million. 19 Entertainment also retains exclusive right of refusal for management and merchandising of any contestant. Exercising management rights is at the sole discretion of 19 Entertainment; in the alternative the contestant performer is free to pursue his or her own career.
Early auditions
In the show, hopeful contestants are screened by preliminary panels to be selected for singing talent or humorous potential and human interest. The audition process is long and tedious, beginning with tens of thousands of candidates strategically interviewed and eliminated before being individually auditioned by show producers Ken Warwick and Nigel Lythgoe (often slide shows of horrendously terrible candidates are shown from this interview).
Contestants then audition before the three main judges - Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson - in selected cities across the United States. Sometimes a celebrity fourth judge may be added. These are generally held at large convention centers where thousands of people wait in line for auditions. Contestants are required to sing a short one-minute a cappella snatch. Those who impress the judges enough move on to the second-round auditions, which take place in Hollywood (typically only several dozen out of the thousands in each city move on with an average of about 150-200 total in Hollywood).
Much like the original Pop Idol, one of the most popular segments of each season are initial episodes showcasing Idol hopefuls auditioning before the panel. These early episodes primarily feature a mixture of the finer auditioning singers and many of the outright "rejects"; these included Season 1's portrayal of Lady Marmalade, Season 2's performance of Madonna's Like a Virgin by Keith Beukelaer and Season 3's rendition of Ricky Martin's She Bangs by William Hung.
Idol audition cities
Hollywood and semifinals
Once in Hollywood, the three judges narrow the initial field of a few hundred down to a group of 24 semi-finalists (30 in Season 1 and 32 in Seasons 2 and 3). Beginning with the fourth season, the semi-finalists were split into two groups separating the male contestants from the female contestants, promoting an equal number of each sex to the finals. The judges, from this point on, serve almost entirely in an advisory capacity, with no direct influence on the results.
Viewers have two hours following the broadcast of the show in their time zone to phone in votes for their favorite contestant by calling a toll-free number. Callers are allowed to vote as many times as they like for any number of contestants, as long as they vote within the voting window for the time zone assigned to their phone's area code.
The contestants sing a song of their choice and the two from each gender with the lowest public vote total are eliminated from the competition.
Final twelve
In the finals, which last eleven weeks, each finalist performs a song live in prime time from a weekly theme (two songs in later rounds) at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California in front of a live studio audience. Themes have included Motown, disco, big band music, and Billboard #1 hits. Some themes are based on music recorded by a particular artist, and the finalists have a chance to work with that artist in preparing their performances. Artists around whom themes have been based include Billy Joel, Neil Sedaka, The Bee Gees, Barry Manilow, Rod Stewart, Gloria Estefan, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Queen and Elvis Presley. Once in the top 5, the contestants sing two songs each.
When there are three finalists remaining, themes are no longer used. Instead, each contestant sings three songs: one of their own choice, one chosen by the judges, and one chosen by record executive Clive Davis. However, in Season 2, in the final three, one song was chosen randomly from a bowl, with one chosen by the performer and one by the judges. In season 6, each contestant sings on of their own choice, one chosen by the judges, and 1 chosen by "the producers" instead of Clive Davis.
In any case, each week on the following night's live "results" episode, Ryan Secreast will recap each contestant's performance before revealing if he or her was safe for the week. In the end, 3 contestants were pulled out from the couch to the centre of the stage. These 3 contestants received the lowest number of votes, and were known as the "bottom 3". After that, one contestant was saved, leaving the bottom 2 in the centre of the stage, before the eliminated contestant was revealed. The eliminated contestant's monatage on Idol will be shown, before he or she was given one last chance to sing a song to close up the results show, and this was also when the credits started rolling. However, in some cases, all the contestants were grouped on the centre of the stage. In the top 7, particularly, 2 groups of 3 were formed, leaving only one safe contestant in the middle of the stage to choose between the two groups. These "choosers" include George Huff, Bo Bice, Taylor Hicks, and also Melinda Doolittle, who refused to choose between the two groups.
In the top 3, though, no bottom 2 was revealed, instead one contestant will be revealed to be eliminated. This process continued till season 6, where Jordin Sparks was announced to be safe first, followed by Blake Lewis, eliminating Melinda Doolittle. Even in season 6, it was not revealed whether Blake or Jordin gained the most votes in the top 3.
Then in the finale, one remaining contestant is declared the winner. The stage is moved to the Kodak Theatre for the finale showdown, where the two remaining contestants perform for an audience of at least 3,400. It was also noted that all winners of the seasons sang last, with the exception of Ruben Studdard. The winner is announced at the end of the show. The winner receives a one million (US) dollar record deal with a major label, and is managed by American Idol-related 19 Management. In some cases, non-winners have also been signed by the show's management company (who has first option to sign contestants) and received record deals with its major label partner.
Each season a compilation album with the top twelve finalists (top ten for Season One) is also released. Other compilations, such as a Christmas album, have also been released. The top ten finalists participate in a post-season American Idol promotional concert tour.