'American Idol' winner Taylor Hicks is splitting from Arista. They released his self-titled major-label debut in late '06. The set has sold 699,000 units in the United States.

Hicks has decided to record his next album on his own. He said he signed his 3-year deal straight out of Idol because it was all he could get, and at that point he had no reason to turn it down. He said he'll continue to hustle to get more gigs, and he'll be releasing another album in 2008, and hopefully go on tour.