To keep it kinda, sorta, a marketing or branding discussion, as well as a sales one.

My take: Lambert on the cover of Rolling Stone is not meant to influence rock music buyers or radio programmers--it's meant to sell the issue to fans of the celebrity, just as it is when RS puts the Jonas Brothers, the Gossip Girls or the stars of the Hills on the cover (which they've all been in the last year)

Actual rock consumers are not the ones looking at baby and kindegarten pictures of Adam Lambert (weirdly *fannish* stuff to be running), nor all in a flutter about the Coming Out When He Was Not In.

Rock Radio DJs aren't out there cuddling the issue in their lap and saying OMG, he went to Burning Man! He's done drugs! Yet so witty and he has great parents! And who does his hair? He's DEFINITELY going on the air as SOON as we get that record!!! This whole thing is for people who already love the sparkly dude.

If this were really about trying to acquire new fans or influence consumers who buy a lot of new music, they'd be maybe running a profile now and aim for a cover story the month his record comes out. By blowing their whole wad now, six months before an album drops, I guess maybe they're trying to new ways to hype up the television fans and keep up a hot level of obsession and investment until the music comes out. Some show watchers have always speculated that 19E wants to get back to the Clay/Reuben days when more of the TV audience bought the follow up product and they didn't *have* to rely on breaking through to the general audience via radio as much.

It's the TV show fans who believe that Adam having a cover on Rolling Stone makes him more real. It's not, for example, causing new people to run out and buy his show stuff on iTunes. The ones who care have it already. I have a feeling that 19E/RCA do already have what they hope to be a big hit single already lined up, which they will drop maybe in the summer, following the plan for last year's Crush, or the UK's Leona Lewis, who made almost all her sales off one huge pop single. But I'd be surprised if it's not a pop tune.

As a consumer who enjoyed the AI show this year more as a show, liking differing members of the ensemble during the year, including Lambert, Allen and Iraheta, I'm finding the post-show celebrity mania a turn off. I don't dislike the guy, I just find my interest waning.

Of course, I'm not objective, because I'm a fan of last year's guy and I've liked many other artists on the show. And also I like and buy a lot of new music, making a lot of what he says about music (being a rock star is about dressing up? His hero is Madonna?) sound really . . . kind of lame. Er, should just say, not for me.

Kinds seems like the whole "we can MAKE him happen" thing that went on during the show. We won't know if that tactic works until six months from now when albums drop . . .