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This week Mercury winner Speech Debelle announced that she is actively seeking a new record label, after, she claims, the company that released her award-winning debut, Ninja Tune subsidiary Big Dada, failed to distribute it properly, meaning that many people were unable to buy it when they ran to the shops to get their copy shortly after her award win.

Two months on from the Mercury Prize the album is thought to have sold just 10,000 copies (7000 more than it had before the win). This, Debelle says, is because she was signed to a small company who could not cope with demand the weekend after the award was announced.

Of course what Debelle has experienced is the main downside of working with a smaller indie label. They can't afford to press up thousands of extra copies of an album on the off chance it wins the Mercury Prize, especially when the album is a real outsider to win in the run up to the presentation of the award.

The big pro of Big Dada for Speech Debelle prior to her Mercury win, presumably, was that none of the major record companies would probably have even considered signing her. Even if they had, it's unlikely she would have been given the creative freedom she enjoyed with her former label, which allowed her to make an honest album with a sound that led some folks to claim it was the best album of the year.

And for every independent-signed artist frustrated that they aren't able to reach the audience of millions they know would just love to hear their album, there are more complaining that they've been lost in the major label system, with their only hope of future recognition being the line-up round on 'Never Mind The Buzzcocks'. Nobody wants that.

All of which is a bit depressing really, isn't it? Ah well, this will cheer you up. It's this week's CMU Weekly, a handsome (yes, handsome) collection of musical bits and pieces from the last seven days. You know what's in there by now (unless you're new, in which case, you'll work it out. And hello). Our competition this week could win you a big box of Florence & The Machine, which is nice.

Andy Malt
Editor, CMU
 
  U2 TO HEADLINE GLASTONBURY 2010
U2 have been confirmed as Friday headliners for next year's 40th anniversary Glastonbury Festival. It'll be the first time the band have ever played the event, despite rumours that they would do so every year since the release of their first album. However, it's unlikely to stop the rumour that they've split, which spreads through the festival site each year. Announcing the booking, Michael Eavis told reporters: "The 26 year old rumour has finally come true. At last, the biggest band in the world are going to play the best festival in the world! Nothing could be better for our 40th anniversary party". The band will fly over to the UK from the US, where they will be on tour, especially for the show.
     
  ROBBIE CONSIDERING CITY FUNDING FOR FUTURE ALBUMS
Robbie Williams' management have admitted they are talking to financial institutions about providing the funding for the next stage of the pop star's career, a deal which, modelled on his current £88 million deal with EMI, could give the City types a cut of future Robbie record sales, touring revenues and sponsorship income. Boss of management company ie:music, Tim Clark has said that he and the ie team are now looking at all options for the next stage of Robbie's career, which includes talking to a number of major record companies, as well as alternative investors, including City types. It's thought Team Robbie are looking for about £50 million this time.
     
  ISLAND DEF JAM EXEC ARRESTED AFTER BIEBER FANS GET OUT OF CONTROL
Proving that it's not just British teenage pop fans who can bring a busy shopping centre to a halt, police in New York were forced to shut down a shopping mall appearance by a rising teen pop sensation called Justin Bieber after 3000 young, mainly female fans got out of control. Five fans were taken to hospital with minor injuries as police ordered the appearance be cancelled. Island Def Jam VP James Roppo was arrested, seemingly because he refused to send out a message via Bieber's Twitter feed telling the kids to go home. Which is a previously unheard of crime, I think. Bieber himself later reported that he had been refused entry to the mall when he arrived, saying that police threatened to arrest him and his mother (who was with him) if they didn't leave.
     
  IT'S LIKE SOME HORRIBLE DREAM I CAN'T WAKE UP FROM
First Susan Boyle beat every Amazon pre-order record going. Now, perhaps predictably, she's on track to have the highest ever first week sales for a debut album with 'I Dreamed A Dream'. The album shifted 130,000 during its first 24 hours in stores and is currently outselling the rest of the top five put together, according to The Official Charts Company. The current record for highest first week sales for a debut album was set by that Leona Lewis two years ago, with a total of 375,872.
     
  DEPECHE MODE MAN CALLED AS EXPERT ON MISERY
Depeche Mode's main songwriter, Martin Gore, will be called as an expert witness should a lawsuit filed this week in California go to trial. American videogame fan Erik Estavillo is suing the makers of 'World Of Warcraft', Activision Blizzard, claiming that the game has alienated him from the real world, and has named Gore in court documents as a man who knows his stuff when it comes to feelings of disaffection and isolation. According to Estavillo, the musician would be called because "he himself has been known to be sad, lonely and alienated, as can be seen in the songs he writes". The gamer is seeking $1 million in damages.
     
 

REVIEWS
Right, so the year is fast drawing to a close, but there are still some great new releases coming in thick and fast. This week we've been listening to new records from Cold Cave, Girls, Hot Chip's Joe Goddard, Monsters Of Folk, and we also headed down the The Scala in London to check out Ingrid Michaelson doing her thing.
     

Want more? Want daily in-depth music news? Want all this for free? Well, ha, you're in luck. Click here to subscribe to the CMU Daily. Or here to access the CMU News-Blog.

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WIN FLORENCE IN A BOX
Florence And The Machine will release a deluxe, four disc edition of their debut album, 'Lungs', on Monday.

The limited edition box set includes the original platinum selling album, a full live performance from Abbey Road (which includes a cover of the Beatles classic 'Oh Darling'), remixes, covers and rarities, including a cover of Beyonce's 'Halo' (as performed earlier this year in the Radio1 live lounge) and a DVD containing videos, exclusive acoustic sessions and the album launch show filmed live from the Rivoli Ballroom earlier this year.

The package also has sleeve notes and an essay on 'Lungs' written by David Vann (Florence's favourite new author), plus never before seen personal sketches, photos and excerpts from Florence's notebooks.

  

 

We have a copy of this box set to give away. You want it? Email [email protected] by 4 Dec and you might just be in luck.

Can't wait? Order it from Amazon right now, here.

Look what they won...
Well done to Amy Eden for winning last week's Stereophonics competition!
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Dave Grohl admits that he thought Nirvana's now legendary Reading Festival performance in 1992 could have been the band's last: "Kurt had been in and out of rehab, communication in the band was beginning to be strained. People weren't even sure if we were going to show up. We rehearsed once, the night before, and it wasn't good. It turned out to be a wonderful show, and it healed us for a little while"
     
 

Pete Doherty comes up with a novel excuse for missing three gigs in Ireland: "If I hadn't been on a life support machine I'd have been in Ireland, but my heart stopped. It was a really strange turn of events. Obviously, [the doctors'] immediate thought was that it was to do with drugs, but it wasn't - it was some kind of poisoning. I don't remember [what happened]"
     
 
Adam Lambert comments on his controversial performance at the American Music Awards: "I had fun, my dancers had fun, the audience had fun. Female performers have been doing this for years - pushing the envelope about sexuality - and the minute a man does it, everybody freaks out. My goal was not to piss people off, it was to promote freedom of expression and artistic freedom"
     
 
Paul McCartney says stage fright almost caused him to quit The Beatles: "A couple of years into The Beatles' career, I remember being on the steps of Wembley Town Hall, literally getting ill with nerves, and thinking, 'I've got to give this business up, this is no good'. It was quite nerve-wracking"
     
 
Bob Dylan insists that his Christmas album is not a joke: "Critics like that are on the outside looking in. They are definitely not fans or the audience that I play to. They would have no gut level understanding of me and my work, what I can and can't do - the scope of it all. These songs are part of my life, just like folk songs. You have to play them straight, too"
     
 
Westlife's Shane Filan reveals that their manager, Louis Walsh, has dropped the band on no less than two occasions: "He's fired us twice! He thought we were being arrogant little rock stars and said: 'Look I can't deal with you'. Two years later the same sort of thing happened again - he just got a vibe that we were a little bit too big for our boots. We were all genuinely devastated. I was crying"
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  Carl Cox relaunches Intec. DJ Carl Cox has announced that he will re-launch his defunct record label, Intec Records, as Intec Digital in January, with its first release being Cox's new artist album. The original Intec launched in 1999, making its name as a ground-breaking techno label, releasing records by the likes of Marco Bailey, Preach, Trevor Rockcliffe and Bryan Zentz, before closing its doors in 2006 - www.intecdigital.com
     
  New music from Efterklang. CMU favourites Efterklang have just completed work on their third album, 'Magic Chairs'. The album isn't due to be released until February next year, courtesy of 4AD, but the band have already made a track from it available to download for free - www.efterklang.net/home/2009/11/19/magic-chairs-our-new-album-listen-to-new-song/
     
  Gay For Johnny Depp - Hey Fucked Up! Everything's got too nice around here. People are talking about Christmas, how great everything is, togetherness, that sort of thing. What we really need is the video for 'Hey Fucked Up!', which recreates a standard GFJD show, with the band turning up without instruments, donning balaclavas and massacring the audience - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn14k1sApas
     
  Emika. The title track of new Ninja Tune signing Emika's debut EP, 'Drop The Other', sounds like a squeaky clean R&B track that's been taken out on a heavy night and then left alone in a strange town to find its way home at 4am. It's catchy and definitely has pop in its heart, but it also sounds damaged and subdued. It's not out til January, but Ninja Tune are giving away a Scuba remix of the track right now - www.ninjatune.net/emika
     
  Frankie Machine - Why Are You? EP. Last week marked ten years since Frankie Machine released his debut EP, 'Why Are You?' So it's about time you acquainted yourself with his particular brand of songwriting brilliance. Frankie has put the long sold out EP up on the internet for free, complete with four songs, six weird interludes and two bits of rambling from John Peel. All of which are things you need - www.mediafire.com/?iy2uhjoy2nm
     
  Throats announce debut album. Flippin brilliant UK hardcore boys Throats will release their eponymous debut album via Holy Roar on 1 Feb. To celebrate, they'll play a free album launch show at The Old Blue Last in London on 30 Jan with Hang The Bastard, Brutality Will Prevail and Betty Pariso, before heading out on a full European tour. You can get a taste of the action on their MySpace page - www.myspace.com/throatsofgold
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  Q1 How did you start out making music?
KELPE: "The first music I made was when I was about fourteen years old, on an old Amiga and a sampler I had bought for that purpose. It was basically rave music with samples from here and there. I probably didn't do that much for quite a while from the age of sixteen until about nineteen, when I borrowed a friend's four-track whilst at university, and also had to do some computer-based music for coursework"

Read more of Kelpe's answers
   
 

Q2 What inspired your latest EP?
ROGUES: "The EP is a selection of songs from over the last nine months. We tried to include a variety of material, ranging in tone and colour. I think an EP should be a cohesive piece of work, a little journey which involves the artwork and the music. That's what we've tried to achieve with 'Widows'"

Read more of Rogues' answers
   
  Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
ANTI-POP CONSORTIUM: "Each member's process is different. For me, creating a track is like creating a new life. Like any new life, it should have a reason to exist. This is why the track must have a pulse that can be felt by the listener. If it doesn't move you, then it's just constipation"

Read more of Anti-pop Consortium's answers
   
  Q4 Which artists influence your work?
PINT SHOT RIOT: "British rock n roll is our main shared influence as a group. There have always been so many amazing British bands, from The Beatles, The Stones and The Kinks, through The Clash, The Sex Pistols and The Specials and on to today with Kasabian, The Enemy etc"

Read more of Pint Shot Riot's answers
   
  Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
THE NEW WINE: "I think it's important that our music is both danceable and simply listenable at the same time. Of course we don't want to become a 100% dance project, that's more our live thing. So an introduction to our music for the first time would depend on the mood of the listener. Whether you want to dance or just want to sit back and listen, we're hopefully suited for both. Basically our music is about a deep love for music from earlier decades, and selecting the right amount of elements from this music. It mustn't get too 80s, you know. And definitely not too 90s"

Read more of The New Wine's answers
   
  Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
ZINC: "If I can keep making and playing the music I want to I'll be happy, that's my only ambition"

Read more of Zinc's answers
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Q. What did the big Robbie Williams say to the little Robbie Williams?

A. You're too young to smoke.
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