Now accepting donations: Alexandra Burke

From the moment Alexandra Burke won her season of The X Factor (UK), she got the idea that she was the second coming of Beyonce, probably because the diva shared the stage with her during the finale of the show. However, reality has finally begun to sink in as Burke has lost her spot on yet another label roster.

In 2011, Burke left Simon Cowell’s Syco to sign sign with RCA Records – also under the Sony Music Entertainment umbrella – where she hired the team of A&Rs that helped build the careers of Beyonce and Rihanna. While explaining her decision to exit the company, Burke claimed that she was a “high-maintenance” artist who needed more attention than the busy Cowell had to time to offer. Unfortunately for her, the good folks at RCA also didn’t have the time to tolerate her demands.

An RCA spokesman addressed Burke’s situation in a statement to the Daily Mail: “We were in negotiations with [Burke] over continuing her relationship with RCA. However, the two sides had differing views over the best creative path for Alexandra to take. As a result, both sides have parted amicably.”

Executives at RCA were reportedly “unhappy” with the failure of Burke’s Heartbreak On Hold album, which sold less than 7K copies during its first week of release in June 2012 and peaked at #18 on the UK Albums Chart. Although the lead single from the record, “Elephant”, peaked at #3 on the Official UK Singles Chart, the “Let it Go” followup opened at #33 before tumbling to #74 and then fell off the lineup completely.

Now, Burke has teamed with former Def Jam President Kevin Liles with the hopes of relaunching herself as an R&B artist in the US later this year. She has yet to land a new record deal on either side of the pond as her career has been put, well, on hold.

Let’s address the big elephant in the room. AlthoughBurke is a very talented performer, she got far too ahead of herself with delusions of grandeur and forgot the power of leverage. What does that mean? Simply, before artists can challenge the directives of a label, they have to properly establish their careers with at least a pair of successful albums, thus making the opportunity cost of getting dropped far too great and their bargaining power will be greatly increased.

Burke probably left Syco because she assumed that a platinum album in the UK and a handful of #1 singles ranked her among the greatest artists of her generation. That inflated ego led her to think that she had the right to make demands before she truly paid her dues in an industry that has broken artists with far more success than her and she walked away from a solid arrangement.

Really, Burke should have stayed on Syco, released and promoted her second album, and launched a tour of the UK. After she laid the foundation for future earnings by proving herself as a viable recording and touring act, Burke should have quietly inked a deal with a US label under the Sony umbrella – preferably RCA or Columbia Records – via the network of contacts she secured at Syco.

Sadly, Burke refused to listen to reason and now she is paying the price. Without a record deal, she is basically homeless and a manager of Liles’ status won’t remain interested for long. Additionally, Burke’s career has been reset to stage one and she is basically a new artist in the eyes of the US consumers, most of whom never heard of her. Yes, that will allow her to score a fresh start without much judgement but that’s only if labels let her through the front door.

Thoughts?