News

Speech Debelle Leaves Record Label Over Lack Of Support

2:39 p.m. · November 25, 2009 · by Craig Hubert

Speech Debelle, winner of the Mercury Prize this year, has decided to leave her record label, Big Dada. A subsidiary of British independent Ninja Tune, Debelle claims Big Dada was not equipped to handle the commercial push needed after the Mercury Weekend.

Debelle elaborated in a conversation with BBC 6 Music:

"I wasn't on a big label and the machine wasn't there," she continued. "So even though the album won the Mercury it was still only able to do what the label was capable of doing, which just means that I'm more prepared for next time."

A surprising move for a musician who has noted her disdain for big record labels in the past, being quoted in a TimesUK article as realizing that the music business was "run by middle-aged white men," and that their idea of urban music is completely skewed. 

Let's hope she doesn't forget that it was an independent label that finally released her music to the public, leading to her new popularity. An artist like Speech Debelle can get squashed in the major label machine. [Spinner]