British singer and rapper Jay Sean is no longer signed to EMI / Virgin / Relentless records. Rumours of the break-up had been circulating in the industry for months.

He said that he had been frustrated with the album not being released in certain international territories, citing North America and parts of Europe as an example.

"We had been to shows in those countries and every single fan was saying to me - why can't we buy your album here?" he told Asian Network's Adil Ray in an interview. "You've got to imagine how frustrating that is for me... to me that's like tens of thousands of sales that I'm not getting."

He said he was signed to a global deal that meant the relevant EMI subsidary had an option of releasing the album in each part of the world. The fact that some territories did not see the reason to, irked him.

"We could have forced them to release it, six months after my album came out, or we could do it ourselves through a major independent label, which is what we want to do now."

He also slammed his record company EMI in the interview, saying they did not know how to deal with his kind of music.

"EMI India released the album, did not pump any money into it and sold the most amount of albums than any other artist signed to EMI India ever has done. But that's enough for them... They were being complacent basically."

He added: "They're good at doing Katie Turnstall, they're good at doing Joss Stone - whose fanbase is entirely different... they don't knw how to deal with that kind of setup," he said, referring to British Asian artists.

A spokesperson for his management company 2.9 told AIM: "Jay and his management feel that this is a positive move in order for him to release his new album in various territories around the world and pursue his career.

"Jay has enjoyed working and is gratefull for all the support and hard work that everyone has given on his last two singles and album but there is still alot more to do and he can't wait for his fans to hear his new music and keep the Jay Sean music out there!"

Others did not see the issue as so clear-cut. A music industry insider with years of experience with Asian artists told AIM that the deal also looked unattractive from his record company's perspective. In other words, he may have been dropped by the record company.

"A lot of money was spent on Jay Sean, to go for a particular demographic. It doesn't look like it paid off. Although he sold a lot of albums, the amount of money they spent to get him there was probably not worth it."

Shihab Salim, editor in chief of Asiana magazine, said he was "saddened" to hear about the news. "The problem with mainstream interest in underground artists has always been the same: we brought you up from obscurity and turned you into an overnight sensation, now deliver us the goods fast!"

He added: "Jay Sean needed a second album to prove himself. But they had him down as a flash in the pan and moved on to the next fly-by-night guy they can catch."

"It's a shame, but I think in the long run, it'll make him go back to making music he wants to rather than what he thinks a record company without much interest other than making money wants him to do."

The artist's management company is now said to be "aggressively shopping around" to find companies that would license his album overseas, particularly North America.

Without the backing of a major record label however, he may be hampered by a sizeable marketing budget.


Do you think this will make it harder for young Asian artists to get a record deal, or does it make no difference? Email us with your thoughts or post them below.