TMZ broke the story ... Seacrest and Fremantle Media and Core Media -- the producers of "American Idol"-- have agreed on his salary ... somewhere between $10 million and $15 million, substantially less than Katy Perry's $25M paycheck but definitely not chump change -- but he wants more than a "Host" title.

Sources at Fremantle and Core tell us, Seacrest is asking for an Executive Producer credit but Fremantle is balking, and the stalemate has now lasted more than a week. It's unclear if Seacrest wants day-to-day responsibilities for producing the show -- hard to imagine since there are only 24 hours in a day.

As we reported, we know producers are interested in Lionel Richie as a judge, but we're told they won't sign anyone else until they seal the deal with Seacrest.

Stay tuned.