Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The Mercury Prize conspiracy

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    The Mercury Prize conspiracy

    I've just been looking at all the past winners of the Mercury Prize and the noughties champs are all albums that are now charity shop staples - Klaxons, Franz Ferdinand, Dizzee Rascal, Ms Dynamite.

    It's just dawned on me. The whole thing is orchestrated by Scope, Oxfam and Sue Ryder as a way to keep stock coming in to their shops. They know that in 2020 they will be gifted thousands of copies of the Skepta album.

    What a racket.

    #2
    The great thing about the Mercury is that it gives a boost to all the shortlisted acts. Doves may have failed to walk away with the big prize in 2002 with The Last Broadcast, but it still features as strongly in the racks of top charity shops as any of the winners of that era.

    Comment


      #3
      There's a possible explanation in how the rock era effectively died sometime in the mid-90s (as a mainstream industry, as opposed to a cult interest), and the Mercurys are the arse-end of that tradition.

      Comment


        #4
        Also, if the Mercury endorsement caused a lot of non-fans to give that year's winner a go, then it will have been a bit hit and miss whether those purchasers actually took to the album, leaving it especially vulnerable to future downsizing and decluttering purges.

        Comment

        Working...
        X