Australian Idol winner Natalie Gauci's poor sales

Article from: Sunday Herald
December 16, 2007 12:00am

THE Winner's Journey album released by Australia Idol victor Natalie Gauci is only half the album it could have been.

Much of her Idol journey - in fact, all of her performances from the popular Network Ten talent quest - has been left out of the CD/DVD package that hit music stores this week.

Rather than following in the successful footsteps of last year's Idol winner Damien Leith and release a CD of the songs she performed on Idol and a DVD featuring her Idol performances, Gauci's record company Sony/BMG made the strange decision not to include the Idol footage on the DVD.

Instead, her album comes with a DVD of an interview between her and John Foreman.

It was rumoured within music circles that a dispute between Fremantle Media, the company that produces Idol, and Sony/BMG was the reason for the missing footage.

However, Freemantle has strongly denied the suggestion, pointing out they had licensed the Idol footage to Sony/BMG and that the record company had made the decision not to include the performances on Gauci's release.

It turns out Sony/BMG is effectively asking Idol fans to pay twice to get their fill of Gauci's rise to fame, releasing a separate DVD called The Final Two featuring footage of Gauci and runner-up Matt Corby's Idol performances.

But it would seem the plan has backfired, with industry feedback suggesting Gauci's album is not selling in the same numbers as Leith's last year.

"This year we wanted to take the Winner's Journey concept a step further, with longer studio recordings of all the songs by Natalie from her Idol journey together with her thoughts and reflections from winning Idol," a Sony/BMG spokeswoman said

I feel so bad for Nat... :(

It seems that Natalie is not getting the real deal she deserves! The footage from her Idol Journey could have made all the difference to her sales. Trust Sony/BMG to mess up! :swear

I agree. Its all so crazy, what they do for the artists. I will NEVER EVER get over what they did for Guy - that dreadful cover for Angels Brought Me Here (I would NEVER recognise Guy from that photo), the utter crap of a video.
And then - all the stuff he did overseas, and never once was it written up properly in 2004 - he sort of 'disappeared' for around 6 months! WHich he didn't, really. He was so busy - flying here and there and everywhere.

Sometimes, I just hope

for professional and dedicated attention by those whose job it is to do just that
and sometimes - it just doesn't seem to happen. :angry:
HOWEVER, having said that, I think Natalie is doing fine. There are some big boys with their cds atm, people are touring everywhere and its a whole different ballgame.

I believe whole heartedly in Natalie's talent and career. She has a good career, solid, in front of her. I don't believe, overall, she has any true worries.