Pre-order Adam Lambert's album on iTunes! Oh and by the way...

Well, it looks like the pimping continues long after Idol's eighth season ended. I received a mass e-mail this afternoon from iTunes because I have purchased Idol-related material from the digital store in the past, and what did I find but a nice, big, blinding ad letting me know that I can pre-order Adam Lambert's forthcoming album For Your Entertainment (as if I didn't already know this from previous e-mails via iTunes).

What I thought was interesting is the fact that Kris Allen's album, which was released yesterday, was also included in the e-mail, all the way below Adam's giant glittered banner. There were also plenty of other Idol-related albums and singles flanking the right side of the e-mail, but that's beside the point. Since the season ended, the 19 Entertainment machine has been bending over backwards trying to market the two finalists (and fourth-place Allison Iraheta, who coincidentally has her album pre-order notification located directly beneath Kris's) as a threesome to the fans. What's the true reason for this?

In the past, 19E has been more than happy to let its signed runners-up fall by the wayside while their winners basked in all their glory (and ate up their promo dollars), but this time around things seem to be reversed. Granted, the fact that they are on separate record labels (they being Adam and Kris) plays a part in this, but it's not like iTunes randomly decided to send this e-mail out, 19E is the wizard behind the curtain here. But why is there so much effort on their part (almost to the point of desperation) that they are shoving Adam in our faces prior to his album release?

I think they're afraid first week sales might be a bit below where projections have Entertainment at. This is of no fault of Adam's, of course, just the fact that he's the most talked about finalist in the show's history puts him on such a high pedestal that it will be almost impossible for him or his album's performance to match the hype. Yes it's true various sources say Adam's album has been doing extremely well in pre-sales, including a comment that pre-orders are "through the roof" made by a representative from Newbury Comics in a recent article in Rolling Stone, but that is a very small chain in comparison to some of the bigger chains out there.

At the moment, Kris's album is sitting at #9 and #12 on iTunes Top 200 Overall Albums chart, while Adam's album is behind at #25. Is there really any need to feature Adam prominently in an e-mail when Kris just saw his album debut yesterday to worse than expected sales? I didn't receive a comparable e-mail notifying me about Kris's album last week. Plus, single sales for Adam's and Kris's comparable lead singles are just that - comparable - as Kris had 39.3k for "Live Like We're Dying" after a week-and-a-half's worth of sales while Adam now has 44.5k for "For Your Entertainment" after the same time period. But judging by the amount of media attention the two alums are getting, one would think Adam would be crushing Kris in the single sales department. Does this mean maybe Adam's album sales are going to be underwhelming?

There are plenty of other instances of questionable promotional tactics that have been used since the finale in respect to Adam and Kris that have been well documented, including the "Ryan, Rock My Town!" concert contest that in past years might have been just reserved for the season's champ. But once again, this e-mail is just a representation of how things have been conducted since Adam lost the competition. At this point it's just rubbing salt in the wound.