[Feefs]

According to one of the papers I was leafing through thismorning, Darius is not signing a deal with BMG, but with Mercury. It's for 3 albums, and was arranged by Simon Cowell.

This is good news, because he's better off with a record company that can promote him as an individual, rather than 2nd runner up in a talent contest. BMG are massive and have tonnes of contacts, but they'd still be stretching things a bit to take on 3 brand new male solo artists within such a short space of time. To us they seem very different, but to non PI fans they consider them as similar.

If Simon Fuller did arrange it, then it sounds like he's still with 19 which is nice. The people there know him and can see beyond the image, so hopefully he'll stay with them for a while at least.

Some people have been giving BMG a hard time, but I wouldn't be surprised if Darius was being just as tricky as them in any contract negotiations. If their relative styles didn't suit each other then there was no reason why Darius shouldn't look further afield. It will also help prevent the general backlash against BMG hogging everyone.

Does anyone here know who else is signed to Mercury?