Trust Me, Finishing in Second Place Won't Be That Bad...

I Google searched "how much money does the American Idol winner get." The answer is astonishing.

If you don't feel like reading all that, I'll recap. No winner has ever failed to earn less than $1 million, and each of the top five contestants have come home with $100K or more if 'Idol' signs them to a record deal. That record deal is very restrictive, as Carrie Underwood and Kelley Clarkston have found out, but that sort of money is far more than any other new country artist can count on.

In March, I got a peak into how much country artists make, and the answer was also surprising. An artist with one hit (think: Steel Magnolia), is basically keeping up on bills, but not getting ahead even with the most modest lifestyle. An artist with two or three hits, (Think: Justin Moore), is basically making a middle class income. It's not until you're selling out arenas that artists begin raking in the money to cover mansions diamond studded bikinis.

Those cats can't count on the handsome weekly wage 'American Idol' contestants get either. According to the New York Times, each contestant gets paid over $1,000 for a one hour show, and $1500 for the two-hour episodes. Ten weeks on 'Idol' equals about 30 hours of work for an income that is embarrassingly close to my yearly salary.

I knew I was on the wrong side of the radio.

Watch Scotty McCreery chat with the Q-Morning Crew, Part 3