“Clive is furious because Kelly has assumed total artistic control over her new album and refuses his suggestions,” an insider at Sony BMG tells the NYC tabs.

Clive slammed Clarkson at a company retreat back in April, saying she can’t produce hits.

The aging music mogul took the stage during the “American Idol” finale to plug Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee’s new singles, but failed to mention Clarkson’s third album, “My December,” which debuts in June. Instead, Davis promoted the songwriters for one of Clarkson’s hits, “Since U Been Gone.”

“She wrote all of the second album herself - including the hits ‘Because of You,’ ‘Behind These Hazel Eyes’ and ‘Walk Away.’ Clive hated ‘Because of You’ so much, he would routinely mock it in meetings. It was one of her most successful singles,” the mole says.

“We are appalled he is picking apart one of our own acts - and one that we all love.”

“Kelly wanted to make a deeply personal record. Here’s an artist who didn’t demand more money, who handed in her record on time in January, after making him millions, and now he rips her? The music business is collapsing, and this is why. They won’t let people put out their real music. This is about his huge ego.”

But a Davis pal said, “Clive gave her ‘Hazel Eyes’ and ‘Walk Away’ and he gave her the production company to help make ‘Because of You’ a hit. We pay millions for the albums. This is incorrect.”