Nationwide Mercury Prize Offers Recommended Music As Taster to Nominee Announcements

The Nationwide Mercury Prize is pleased to announce the launch of a new recommended music section, in preparation for the national awards ceremony later this year.

The new music section – Nationwide Mercury Recommends – is intended to warm followers of the UK’s top independent music awards event to new music before nominees for this years awards are announced on July 13th.

The recommendations cover all genres and include both new acts, as well as established but potentially less familiarly known artists.

The Nationwide Mercury Recommends page covers tracks and videos linking to free music at YouTube and MySpace, as well as information on album releases and live gigs of interest.

Groups featured include The Ting Tings, Erykah Badu, These New Puritans, The Roots, Jamie Lidell, Shortwave Set and Flairs. There is also information on upcoming gigs by Beck, and a remastered collectors edition of the first album by Joy Division.

Previous winners of the Nationwide Mercury music prize include Amy Winehouse and the Kaiser Chiefs.

The Mercury awards are sponsored by Nationwide, the world’s biggest building society, and the UK’s leading provider of mortgages.