Clay Aiken parts ways with record label

Reuters, Feb 20, 2009 8:00 pm PST
Season two "American Idol" runner-up Clay Aiken has parted ways with RCA Records.

A source told Billboard that the pop singer left the label a couple of months ago, on the heels of his 2008 album, "On My Way Here."

That set sold just 159,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Aiken's 2003 debut, "Measure of a Man," sold 2.78 million.

The artist joins a slew of second-place finishers -- Katharine McPhee, Justin Guarini, Blake Lewis and Bo Bice, among them -- whose post-"Idol" major-label deals have lapsed.

Aiken will make a guest appearance on the April 8 episode of "America's Next Top Model," where he will serve as a guest judge.

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