Simon Cowell ‘If I don’t reach X Factor deal, I will take a break’
Simon Cowell has admitted that there may be no X Factor series on ITV next year. Simon is pushing for ITV to allocate the show an increased budget, so that he can make it bigger and better than ever before. If the channel can’t afford to do it, then Simon says that he is happy to take some time off instead.
Speaking to The News Of The World the 50 year old said:
“The reason we haven’t announced anything for next year is we’re seeing if we can work something out that will allow The X Factor to stay on in the UK for a few more years.
“Everyone is really stretched right now. We need more people working on the show and that costs money.
“There are a lot of people working 18 hours a day, seven days a week trying to keep this show running. We need more people. So I need that commitment from ITV. If you hire more dancers, more stylists, you need to add to the budgets.
“Plus, when we’re flying people all around the world we need money.
“Most people out there at the moment are asking for salary increases. We just want the money for the show. I haven’t asked for more money. I’m not looking for a pay rise. I wouldn’t ask for a raise if it meant we had less money for the show.
“If we don’t reach a deal with ITV I will simply take a break. I am not going to work for anyone other than ITV and if we couldn’t come to a deal then we would say, ‘Thanks for the last few years, we’ve had a great time and that’s it.’
“If we’re not going to work with ITV then that would be the end of The X Factor.”
Could you cope without the X Factor next year? Leave your comments below.
Chat about this on the Unreality TV Forum »
Loading ...
Firstly this show does not need more dancers or choreographers. This is a gimmick that would be better left at the level it is at.
What the X factor programme needs is this
Real registered music industry mentors who work in the arts and education.
Real singing teachers and not voice coaches.
Real musicians to work with the show throughout all heats and the early stages.
Stop the use of backing discs with the exception of a first audition for one track only.
I would like to see the nature of the show changing to involve more regional singers and more regional groups.
The show should have a group section for those who play instruments. Real rockers are missing from this show and there are plenty of really good bands out in the regions.
@ Maureen. All very good and laudable no doubt, but with respect, that is why Simon Cowell is the brains behind this show and not you. This is why he has taken the show to the level it has reached. It is not some ‘local’ talent show using unknown ‘registered’ (whatever that means) ‘music industry mentors’. It has been very carefully crafted and geared to reach a mass TV audience. The same winning formula has been used to make a similar show huge in the USA. I do think Simon knows what he is doing. More live musicians at all stages of the contest would need a larger budget also.. People require pay rises.. More ‘rockers’?? I can see you are going for a real mainstream appeal here!
Sorry, but I can see Simons point. He’s not simply holding out for more money for himself, or threatening to take the show to a rival channel… He is just asking for a bigger budget to do a much better job. If not, he’s quite happy to take a break… Over to you ITV.
@steve Are you trying to say rock music is not popular or something.You cannot be more wrong.The rock industry combined as a whole is 5x bigger than the solo based or girl/boy band singer based pop served to us on X-factor.The problem is that rock music has splintered into so many genres & sub-genres that it is hard to get any universal support for a start-up band but there are a few.A few rock bands are far bigger than say a Leona Lewis who seems to be faiding away quietly anyway, in America she has vertially had it.Some rock music is very mainstream (universally popular)
Even if you don’t have rock bands on there,I still think that the show could be opened up a little bit more to reflect what peoples tastes are in general to a greater degree.I don’t think this format will have any great chance of discovering any ground breaking people of great talent in my opinion.A hiatus of the show output would do the UK music industry a favour I think.
Hello Steve,
Thing is Steve this show shouldn’t move to far beyond the size it is now. If anything it should be reduced. 200.000 applicants is an excessive number of wanabes to see. Instead the programme needs to concentrate on quality.
Re ‘unknown registered music industry mentors’, these people are highly musically talented and gifted, who work in the regions. A mentor is meant to be someone who is able to teach, advise and direct a persons musical career from start to finish. Many are music and singing teachers very few are voice coaches as this is an area new to the world of music. I,e a voice coach is not always a qualified person. The vocal coach or guru is therefore often blamed for the ruination of many voices that had potential.
As a classical singer who appreciates a broad selection of music, I find the programme extremely limiting and thin when it comes to real musicians, and real singers. I also find the level of ‘voice coaching’ seriously defective as most of the wanabes concentrate on belting the living daylights out of their voices rather than the real art of singing. This might surprise you, especially as Yvie Burnett is originally a classically trained singer in her own right, but due to the demands of what is regarded as commercial she has obviously had to sacrifice standards to meet the speed of manufactured development as opposed to natural development.
The fact that young Joe has won is indicative to me that the viewer also appreciates hearing someone who can actually sing, hence the training Joe had prior to this programme going out has been the most beneficial to him.
Of Rockers it is true that this is the area that has engaged in the most diversity over the years. As a musical style it has fractured. Again there are regional bands who are very good to excellent who should by right have had an equal right to have auditioned for a show like the X factor. Instead they have been missed out.
This is bad news for the music industry as it simply can’t be made without the knowledge and practical skills of a musician/composer. I am curious to whether everything in this avenue is being left up to http://www.unsigned.co.uk plus independent record labels and 1click2fame.
The latter is additionally bad news because the television companies and the record companies seem to be denying the income levels received from supportive sales figures. I say supportive because the rock groups, other standard artists and dead persons estates, have formally been the backbone prividers of music industry revenue responsible for making it the 7th biggest in Britain.
Hence the promotion of up and coming artists always came from this source. Now it goes on fancy offices, expensive cars and lucrative executive salaries.
Of late the music industry has lost its footing in Britain as it is somewhere around the 11th place as economic winners for industrial Britain. Instead certain individuals have been the real winners in the financial stakes concerning the creation of music from reality televised tv shows, but ultimately the industry could be said to be losing out and not gaining as having income earners who seperate themselves from the rest of the industries competitors is not the way to continue promoting music Nationally.
BTW if you were to consider the market research done into real sales figures, you would find that young people below the age of 21 spend their pounds on downloading music from the internet and other sources. Many of which is illegal. However adults still spend as consumers of music via the music shop or supermarket store and in terms of this Rock music is still high on that list. More serious rock fans still prefer vinyl to CD.