Music Fans 'Blind' To British Black Female Artists

Music fans in the UK are ignoring British female urban acts, the chair of the Mercury Prize has claimed.

Simon Frith said music by black British female artists had “always had a particularly tough time”.

His comments come as this year's Mercury winners The xx look set to break into the top-5 of the UK album chart this weekend.

In comparison, last year's winner Speech Debelles album 'Speech Therapy' sold just 3,000 extra copies in the week after her win.

"I think we've known over the years that British tastes have sort of blind-spots," Frith told BBC News.

"It may be radio play or playlists, promoters or whatever it is. Some sort of music instantly has appeal which gets lots and lots of attention. There's other sorts of music which will struggle whether they win the Mercury or don't win the Mercury.”

As previously reported on Gigwise, sales of The xx's self-titled debut have soared by 448%.

Other nominees, including Laura Marling, Villagers and Wild Beasts, have also seen a boost in their album sales.

Mercury Prize 2010