American Idol: The Best Voting System for Its Purpose

I received quite a few comments from the public for my article, American Idol: Don't Expect a Better Voting System. They were still coming in even a full week after publication. Most people agreed with the article and gave me further information and insight. Everyone's comments were very much appreciated. However, there was one very well written email I received that reflected total disagreement with the thesis of my article - that thesis being that the multiple votes per person system used by American Idol is inadequate since it yields such "screwy" results. Perhaps this mind-changing email was from a Fox executive; I don't really know. Regardless, it was this one challenging email response that made me have a complete change of mind. This is what the rest of this article is about - my repentance.

Talent Contest or Idol Maker?

American Idol is not a talent contest. This is what makes it different from other competing programs such as CBS' Star Search. American Idol is American Idol. It's not "American Star" or "American Search for Talent" or whatever else. Examples of past American idols would be Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. Examples of recent or current idols would be the Back Street Boys and Britney Spears. Yes, you need talent to be an idol, but you have to have that something else that is almost indefinable.

But one thing that is quite definable and that someone needs to be an idol is a loyal following. In fact, this is what any commercial musical performer needs, but the size of that loyal following is what makes the difference between an actual "idol," and just another recording artist.

Current Voting System Makes Idols

Under the present telephone voting system wherein one can vote multiple times, although it may yield rather strange results when it comes to very talented people being eliminated much too prematurely, it fosters a basis for a loyal following. Since talent is NOT what it is ALL about, does it really matter if some very talented people get eliminated too soon? Of course, what this "too soon" really means is quite subjective.

The fact remains, if someone is eliminated, the reason for this happening was simply that there were not enough people giving that person their vote(s), or, there was no established loyal group of followers that would sit at the telephone for two full hours pressing the redial key. Let us face it - it takes a lot of dedication to sit at the phone for two hours one evening a week considering the lifestyles of this day and age. Whoever does this, is a loyal follower surely, and what is more, such a person should almost absolutely buy any album that their idol produced after such an investment of time hitting the redial key.

Rickey and Carmen

Personally, I believe that Rickey Smith was eliminated too soon in the competition. I thought for sure that he would have at least made it to the top 6. But did I believe at any time that Rickey ever had a chance of making it to the number 1 spot? No, I never suffered from such an illusion. So then, what is the big deal? Perhaps the annoyance came from the fact that Carmen Rasmusen did make it to the top 6, and in my opinion, she did not deserve it. However, the reality is that more people, or, at least, fewer but far more loyal people, thought otherwise and they kept her in the competition much longer than did Rickey's supporters. The failure came from Rickey's supporters - either there were not enough of them or those that did support him were not very intense in their support.

Being Canadian I can not vote using the telephone for the American Idol contestants. However, if I were able to, would I have ever voted for Rickey? I might have, but I would have been more likely to send my votes to Ruben and Trenyce because these have been my favored contestants all along. At this point in the competition, I would be sending everything now to Ruben because, based upon what I now know about how this voting system works, he really needs it if he is to win. Through perusing the various discussion boards and looking at the results of the Internet polls for American Idol 2, Clay Aiken has a very large and loyal voting base, and Kimberley Locke, if she gains enough ground, could be a deadly vote-splitter.

Conclusion

In my previous article which criticized the voting system of American Idol, I gave two reasons as to why Fox would insist on not changing the current system: (1) the multiple voting system gave millions of votes that would strengthen Fox's position with their advertisers; (2) the screwy results of the voting system gave the TV program more free publicity. However, what I should have considered is a third possibility being that the current voting system is the best one possible for what the program is attempting to achieve - the finding of an American idol. (Of course, such a change in my position was greatly helped when Kimberly Caldwell and Carmen Rasmusen were both eliminated since the writing of my previous article.)

Whether or not a true American idol can be found and established through this television program is another issue altogether. From what I have seen historically, "idols" in the music industry simply just happen, and, they are few and far between.

James Shepherd runs American Idolatry, a website for Canadians who love American Idol. He can be reached at shepherdfj@lycos.com.

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