American Idol David Cook The King of Covers Controversy

“It’s not American Idol unless there is a Controversy”.

David Cook has come on strong in the American Idol competition with his “covers” of “Hello”, “Eleanor Ridgy” and “Billy Jean”. Last week a mini brewha had risen about the “credit” of the cover arrangement while David Cook performed “Billy Jean” and the original cover arrangement from Chris Cornell. Here You can see more on the Cook – Cornell Billy Jean story

This week the Seattle based band Doxology is seeking credit for their cover arrangement of David Cook‘s performance of “Eleanor Rigby”. The Doxology band issued a press release this week.

Seattle, WA – March 28, 2008: After much deliberation, Doxology is releasing a statement to the press. There are many reasons that the Seattle area band feels it is necessary to shed some light on recent events. First and foremost, Doxology is not angry with David Cook or American Idol. They are, however, troubled by the lack of public acknowledgment that the arrangement of “Eleanor Rigby,” used by David Cook on American Idol’s March 11, 2008 episode and its’ subsequent iTunes studio recording, is a near note-for-note copy of a unique demo arrangement recorded by Doxology in 2006. The band feels that David is a great performer, and they are also supporters and fans of American Idol (Blake Lewis, a good friend of the band, was last season’s American Idol runner up). Secondly, Doxology is in disagreement with Idol’s decision to post David Cook‘s performance and studio recording on iTunes. This allows American Idol to profit from the David Cook, March 11th performance and studio recording, without crediting the source for the recording’s arrangement. This is not the first time American Idol has had to deal with this type of issue. During season 5 of Idol, Chris Daughtry used an arrangement from a band without crediting his source. To listen to Doxology’s original demo recording of “Eleanor Rigby” and additional original song selections visit www.myspace.com/dxband.

Doxology lead vocalist Luke McPherson: “Our main issue is that when given the opportunity to speak up and reveal where the arrangement came from, David Cook did not. His silence on the issue implies that the arrangement is his own. It is not.” Luke goes on to say, “We were even more surprised when the studio recording, released Thursday morning, was even more of a note-for-note instrumental copy of Doxology’s recording. I want to be clear. We are not seeking royalties. That’s not what this is about. The compensation we are asking for is the easiest and least expensive around – we, at minimum, want David Cook and/or American Idol to admit that the arrangement he performed on March 11th, and then went into the studio and recorded for immediate sale, was not only inspired by, but almost completely carbon copied from our arrangement. We just want David Cook and American Idol to do the right thing and acknowledge these facts. It’s that simple.”

For your listening and judging the arrangements here are the two video versions of the “Eleanor Ridgy song”. First the Doxology Version. “Doxology Band performing “Eleanor Rigby” at the Nectar Lounge in the Fremont Neighborhood of Seattle on June 30, 2007. Shot during the Global Cooling Show”

Now compare to the David Cook arrangement and cover version he sang on American Idol.

So does Doxology have a right to complain? Is David Cook the King of Covers without Credit? What is your take on the issue?

Eleanor Rigby _ David Cook

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