The BBC’s annual Sound Of poll, which aims to highlight the brightest new talent in the UK, has been branded ‘inconsequential’ after this year’s longlist included just one artist currently signed to an independent label.
That artist is Friends, who are on the Lucky Number label, and Alison Wenham, chairman of the Association of Independent Music, has questioned the poll’s accuracy and relevance.
“I think it’s very inconsequential because, even going back years, this list has not proven to be particularly accurate,” she told NME. “The independents will do what they do, and I’m not all that bothered about these sorts of polls.”
“I don’t think it has very much to do with music, to be honest with you. They say 100 tastemakers put it together, but it essentially cannot be that those tastemakers manage to avoid an entire sector.”
“I think they’re completely meaningless. Brutally, this is a list of product placements for the year coming, and then something will come along out of nowhere. That’s the glory of the unpredictability of our industry – and long may it reign.”
Since being initiated in 2003, when rapper 50 Cent came out on top, each winner has gone on to enjoy some significant chart success in subsequent years, none more so than Adele, who won the title in 2008.