..and Michael Johns had a deal as well Jeez!

From Comcast:

That’s the question a FoxNews columnist is asking after Cook’s loosely mentioned solo album “Analog Heart” from 2006 suddenly launched to No. 1 on “most downloaded” list on Amazon.com’s mp3 download service over the weekend.

It isn’t a secret that several of the contestants on this season of “American Idol” have had record deals and have recorded their own albums in the past. The list includes Carly Smithson (most famously), Kristy Lee Cook and Brooke White. But this is the first time that one of the contestants’ past albums is being promoted to the point of topping a legitimate download service’s chart such as Amazon’s.

“If ‘Analog Heart’ is now being offered official to proper downloading services – and not on just mysterious indie platforms – then Cook has to be behind it,” FoxNews’ Roger Friedman writes.
What does that mean for Cook’s standing in the competition? Is this just some strange way of working the system since he isn’t technically under a label or management contract – and that’s the only real limitation “Idol” contestants face? Cook’s album was released under his own label “David Cook Records,” but should that matter? He’s making money off of it right now.

And what about all those viewers who are down on Smithson because of her record deal as a teenager more than half a decade ago? Will they now turn against Cook, or flock to Amazon to download a copy?