Kings of A&R

Even though Kelly Clarkson’s new record ‘My December’ is poised to go #1 with up to 320,000 copies sold, the saga still continues…

Some insiders claimed that Jeff Kwatinetz of The Firm was fired because he had allegedly made himself the bad guy in an ongoing feud between Clarkson and RCA. Now, sources claim that Kwatinetz actually demanded a $15 million advance for Clarkson from RCA last summer.

This was the beginning of the end. Hence, Clarkson received a much more reasonable $1.5 million advance.

Also, The video for “Never Again,” the first single, cost $600,000, and that another $300,000 was spent on promoting it to radio stations. Its seems RCA was disappointed with the results since “Never Again” didn’t chart well or garner the airplay they anticipated.

RCA is now following Clarkson’s wishes and putting out the second single ‘Sober’.

Some label people are skeptic. As the label’s people say: Clarkson is a pop star. She isn’t Joan Jett. There will be euphoria next week when she’s No. 1, but in weeks two, three and four when the album fades away, no one will remember that.

RCA shipped 850,000 copies of “My December” and doesn’t expect to need more.

Lastly, Kwatinetz, is held responsible for Clarkson’s tour plans being scuttled.

“He booked her into arenas that she couldn’t possibly have sold out, instead of 2,000 or 3,000 seat theaters,” a source said. “He really blew it.”

Despite all the ruckus over “My December,” Clarkson won’t be leaving RCA any time soon.

“We have a long term deal with her,” a source said. “We’re in the Kelly Clarkson business for a long time.

If she wants to come back and make a big hit record next time, we’re here.”

Bottom line: This isn’t the first time that a manager got fired for convincing an artist they should playing arenas when they should be performing 2,000-3,000 theaters. Its embarrassing for an artist to walk out on stage to a half empty arena. This music business is a marathon not a sprint. Managers need to build an artist slowly. Some execs choose to play the greed card, but they always lose in the end. I hope it was worth it.

(Roger Friedman)