Season 7 “American Idol” runner-up David Archuleta has been dropped from his major label home, Jive Records.
A spokesperson confirmed to HitFix that the 20-year-old Utah Native was released from their roster after internet rumors flew and other sites like The Hollywood Reporter posted the news.
He joins a somewhat long line of leavers from the Sony Music family, a group under which Allison Iraheta, Ruben Studdard, Katharine McPhee and Taylor Hicks have fallen.
Archuleta’s last effort, “The Other Side of Down,” has moved only 67,000 copies total in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. His previous sets, 2009’s “Christmas from the Heart” and his 2008 self-titled album, have moved 246,000 and 765,000 copies respectively.
He was noticeably absent from the “American Idol 10th Anniversary — The Hits” compilation tracklisting when it was released earlier this year.
Archuleta told HitFix last year that he had hopes to release a Spanish-language album in the future.
For the first nine seasons of the show, 19 Recordings and Sony Music would have first dibs on signing contestants from the show; that contract has now shifted, to 19 Recordings and Universal.
AI finalists that remain on RCA, J, Jive, Arista and other Sony Music labels include Adam Lambert, Chris Daughtry’s Daughtry, Fantasia, Jennifer Hudson, Kelly Clarkson, Kellie Pickler and Carrie Underwood. Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox are the most recent signees.
David Cook is also on the Sony roster, but he may be watching this story unfold more than most: he was the same season and Archuleta in a very close vote. His first, self-titled RCA set peaked at No. 3 on The Billboard 200 and started with 280,000 copies. He will be releasing his major label sophomore set some time this year.