It’s been six days since the news of Clay Aiken’s new recording contract was announced.  From The Official Fan Club, we learned that Clay had signed with Decca Records which is part of Universal Music Group.

For the past two months, the gossip/news/blog sites have been somewhat quiet about Clay news.  But, with this announcement, there have been many sites that have announced the story, using their own slant on the story.  Some sites use good pictures and others find the worst.  Most spin the story to fit their preconceived opinions of Clay and his music….good or bad.

BroadwayWorld.com had a great review.  I like this paragraph of the story. They said:

Clay Aiken became a music superstar following his success on the “American Idol” television series, and has sold more than six million albums; co-authored a best-selling book; and, played six sold-out concert tours. Aiken released his fourth album, On My Way Here, on May 6, 2008. This was his first album of original songs since his 2003 chart topping, double platinum debut Measure of a Man. On My Way Here’s debut in Billboard Magazine’s Top 5 continued his streak of all four of his albums having debuted in the Top 5.

Playbill also reported on the story. One paragraph stated:

Aiken, who was bested by Ruben Studdard during the second season of “American Idol”,  has gone on to sell more than six million albums, co-author a best selling book (“Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life”) and play six sold-out concert tours. He was a focus of the short-lived Off-Broadway musical Idol: The Musical and has appeared on “Ed,” “Saturday Night Live” and “Scrubs.”

MJSBIGIDOLBLOG said in the last paragraph:

Clay Aiken and 19 Recordings (the American Idol label that signs those Idols they choose) could not reach an agreement for a new contract and decided to part ways earlier this year. This was a smart move for Clay. 19E is a terrible company and Clay is well rid of them.

Lalate published a great picture and said:

Decca has several divisions.  In recent years, Decca dominated in classical and Broadway Scores.  But in recent years Decca moved into pop.  Currently Universal operates Decca Label Group for US acts….

The Examiner sparked a mini-war when they included a poll with their article.  It’s too bad that the fans of the different Idols get so worked up over these polls.

Living In Turnaround has a wonderful article by a talented writer who started the article by saying:

Six and a half years after hitting the public spotlight, Clay Aiken is moving to a higher level, both in his professional career and in his work as an advocate for children.

With this signing, Clay has moved on from the second largest music group, Sony Music Entertainment, to the world’s leader, Universal Music Group, clearly a sign of UMG’s faith in Clay’s talent and potential to create premiere music.

The following are some of the other articles that you might want to read.

Clay Aiken Officially Signed to Decca Records at ACESHOWBIZ

Clay Aiken Signs With Decca Records at Rickey.org

Idol Watch/Clay Aiken Signs Record Deal With Decca at miamiherald

If you visit Google, you will find more articles and in the coming weeks there will be even more.  Let us hope that the writers do their homework and present accurate articles about Clay and his musical career.

Have a good “READ!”