How'd she get out of it? It always seemed to me it was much better to come in second no American Idol...you have alot more freedom
I don't know the details, but Clay Aiken actually blazed that trail. If I'm not mistaken, the AI winner's contract (at least in the beginning) was for one year. Clay found a way to get out of it after the year was up. He signed with the hottest agency in the business. It's called simply The Firm. Kelly followed Clay's lead and signed with The Firm in January.
I don't know if this part was true in the first two seasons, but it's been reported that the AI contract even has the kids sign over rights to their own names. Which means they don't even own the rights to "brand" themselves and earn money off merchandise with their names and faces. That sucks big time, because ads and merchandising is where artists make money that their record companies can't snatch from them.