Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson, John Legend and Adam Levine will be coaching singers through just three weeks of finals on The Voice Season 16. (NBC Photo)

For the second straight season, The Voice appears to be reducing the number of songs from the show that will be available on iTunes.

As recently as last spring, an iTunes version was available of every performance night song by every contestant on the show, from blind audition to the finale.

That changed last fall, when the show nixed iTunes songs for the blind auditions, battle rounds, knockouts and live playoffs.

That meant that during Season 15, iTunes songs weren’t available until contestants reached the Top 13.

The end result: Fans could download 11 performances from Season 14 winner Brynn Cartelli, but only seven by Season 15 champ Chevel Shepherd.

And the number is dropping again thanks to the show’s beyond silly Season 16 format change which will have the finals last just three weeks.

Judging from the newly posted voting rules for Season 16, the only iTunes songs available this spring will be from Top 13 night (May 6), Top 8 Night (May 13) and the finale (May 20).

There’s no mention of iTunes voting from episodes prior to those.

And, if that’s the case, it means the Season 16 winner will have only five songs available on iTunes and Apple Music, one of which will be a duet with his or her coach from the May 20 performance finale.

And it would mean that, for the second straight season, there will be no trace on iTunes of Apple Music of a single Voice performance from at least 35 of the 48 contestants who made the show.

In late 2017, when being questioned about The Voice’s failure to launch superstars, producers Carson Daly and Audrey Morrissey told The Huffington Post they saw The Voice as more of a musical boot camp than a superstar generator.

Hmm, I guess recording a song for release is no longer considered an essential boot camp lesson.

Despite the fact that contestants are far more likely to release music post-Voice than wind up on another television competition show.

See also
Which coach has the best team entering the Cross Battles
The Cross Battles: How they work and the major drawback
How The Voice should have handled Season 16 (and suggestions for Season 17)