Music fans are still mulling over the final nominations for the Mercury Prize following their announcement last week.
David Bowie’s The Next Day and Arctic Monkeys’ fifth and latest LP, AM, are currently leading the total list of 12 albums compiling the shortlist for the coveted annual music prize.
Some have already cried foul over Mercury Prize organisers giving preference to established acts over younger, emerging talent (in an argument similar to the Australian Music Prize), while others have bemoaned glaring omissions from the 2013 shortlist, who are all in contention for the £20,000 cash prize.
The argument being that the major profile (and bank balance) boost would be better used towards the likes of London Grammar, King Krule, CHVRCHES, or Everything Everything (to name a few).
But Kevin Shields, the legendary noisenik at the heart of My Bloody Valentine, has taken his grievances a step further than most, accusing the Mercury Prize of “banning” his group from consideration for the award, saying their independent method of release makes them “virtually illegal” in the eyes of the UK prize panel.
Speaking in an interview with The Guardian, Shields claims that My Bloody Valentine’s m b v – their first new release in 22 years – was snubbed for consideration from the Album of the Year category because its independent release bypassed traditional distribution channels like record labels, Apple’s iTunes, and the popular Amazon online shop. “We’re banned by [the Mercury Prize], and do you know why? Because we’re not on Amazon or iTunes…”
“Isn’t Mercury a phone company or something, anyway? What’s that got to do with music?” says the 50-year old guitarist/producer. “We’re banned by them, and do you know why? Because we’re not on Amazon or iTunes. That’s one of the qualifying criteria. You have to have major distribution or be on iTunes or Amazon.”
The band handled the release of their much-hyped third studio album themselves, allowing for digital distribution and physical copies (through their own MBV records label) via their own website upon its surprise release earlier this year, which caused a website meltdown as fans clamoured to hear the band’s first new recorded material in over two decades.
Submissions for the Album of the Year category for the Mercury Prize do stipulate that the artist’s original recording must “have a digital and physical distribution deal in place in the UK at the time of submission.” Whether a case of sour grapes, or something more conspiratorial, Shields has said that the self-release of their long awaited follow-up to 1991’s Loveless was the technicality by which they were “banned.”
“We released our record, m b v, independently,” notes Shields. “It’s interesting to learn that to be as independent as we are is… virtually illegal,” he said. “It’s not a real record. Our album’s not a real album because it’s independent. The corporate-ness has got to such a point where we’ve essentially been told that we don’t exist. So, technically, that album doesn’t exist. OK? It’s not allowed to exist according to the Mercury prize.”
Why Shields particularly cares is another question entirely (with the interview not quite providing the necessary context) but despite the snub, Shields says the band have no regrets for maintaining their independent model for their third studio album. “I’d recommend it to anyone in our kind of position,” he says (though, there can’t be too many bands who are held in the same rarefied air as the shoegaze legends).
Regardless, Shields says the band are flirting with the idea of releasing m b v through the iTunes music store, “just to see what happens,” in the words of Shields.
The final Mercury Prize shortlist includes releases by Laura Marling, Disclosure, James Blake, Foals, Jake Bugg, Rudimental, Laura Mvula, Villagers, Savages, and Jon Hopkins – along with Bowie and Arctic Monkeys – who are in line to follow in the footsteps of Alt-J, who claimed the prize in 2012 with An Awesome Wave.
“God help [them],” remarks Shields, referring to the myth of those who have “suffered” the Mercury Prize ‘curse’ (as articulated by Andy Gill of The Independent in 2006), including – according to the My Bloody Valentine linchpin – Prim Scream and “even M People… Seriously,” he cautions, “there are sinister forces at work.” In any case, the winner of the £20,000 Mercury Prize is to be announced on 30th October.
