Why Is Sony BMG/Syco Screwing Up Leona's Career?

You would assume that when you have a multi-platinum pop star on your roster, you would your damn-best to make sure she has as much success as possible, right?

Explain that to Sony BMG/Syco, her record label, who have bungled her single choices/appearances more times than one can count.

Here are the biggest mistakes:

• No summer release in the UK: The summer season is the most lucrative (next to winter) in the music business. More people are at home (especially kids) or at the many places where music is played. What a wasted opportunity for Leona to not have a huge smash single that could've carried album sales through the summer to the crucial winter season (plus, a number one wouldn't be bad either). Instead, they release Leona's would-be summer single in November, months after her last release, effectively killing any momentum.

• Releasing "I Will Be" instead of "Forgive Me" in the US...in 2009: Blame the disappointing performance of FM in the UK or the idiocracy of her management, but radio website FQMB is reporting that the Avril Lavigne-penned track "I Will Be" will be released in January. Another ballad? Don't get me wrong, I love Leona's ballads, but she really needs something uptempo after BL and BIT. She also needs something that will sell, well. As proven with the #11 peak of BIT, the slow-tempos aren't the huge money-grabbers that they used to be. FM would be perfect to put her back in iTunes' Top 10. Also, the release date sucks. If they have to release IWB, why not now, to capitalize on the Christmas season, which LOVES balladry?

• Useless performances in the US: Leona Lewis performed on two big shows this past week: Jimmy Kimmel Live and the results show of Dancing with the Stars. Instead of previewing a new single, she performed past singles "Bleeding Love" and "Better in Time" respectively. Why? Why perform a song that is either not on radio or beginning to leave radio? It's basically wasted promo.

• Not releasing Run digitally until December 1st: Last Saturday, Leona delivered a perfect performance of "Run", one of the new tracks off of the re-release of Spirit. It was believed that the album, included with the song, would be released the midnight after the performance to maximize sales. Instead, fans were surprised to see it not there. It turns out that the label decided to withhold the single to maximize sales of the album. Big mistake. Instead of robbing Leona of a chart double, they should've released the album online, allowing people to download "Run" and the album. Did they forget about iTunes' nifty "Complete My Album" feature?

Hopefully, these will be last of the Leona bungles, and her management will finally get things back on track. It would be a travesty if the reason why Leona's career begins to slide is because of her own team.