Indies come out on top as Mercury favours new acts.

The independent sector has achieved its greatest share of the Technics Mercury Music Prize shortlist to date by supplying seven of the 12 nominated albums.

The indie sector's best-yet sweep of the list is dominated by debut releases, with only XL's Basement Jaxx -- who are nominated with their second album Rooty -- not still in the starting blocks of their career. Six other companies supply the other independently-distributed releases, although only two of these -- V2's Elbow with Asleep In The Back and Source-signed Turin Brakes with The Optimist LP -- have yet to break into the sales charts.

Mute managing director Daniel Miller, whose Goldfrapp album Felt Mountain is shortlisted, suggests the strong indie showing illustrates a "separating out" between the indies and the majors. "The independents are focused more on development and the artists that are shortlisted are long-term development acts and find it hard to win radio support," he says.

He says the nomination will make a huge difference for Goldfrapp because, although the album has already had good exposure, it is only up to a certain level. "It's absolutely perfect timing for us," he says. "The album's gone silver without reaching the Top 100, which I'm proud of."

Db Records-signed Tom McRae's self-titled debut is also among the field as part of a contingent of singer-songwriters, while its other challengers include Simple Things by Ultimate Dilemma's Zero 7 and Susheela Raman's Salt Rain. UK-based Raman is signed to Narada World, the ...