Iggy Pop Self-Releasing French Album

Iggy Pop's new album has been rejected by his record label, forcing the singer to release it himself. Virgin EMI turned down the collection of cover versions and French chanson, so Pop has put it on sale via digital retailers. "[The label] didn't want it," Pop told a Paris press conference earlier this week. "They didn't think they would make any money, they didn't think my fans would like it … They would have preferred that I do a rock album with popular punks, sort of like 'Hi Dad!'" Pop claims he offered the album to Virgin EMI, as he is contractually obliged to do, and the label simply passed. "What has a record company ever done for me but humiliate and torment and drag me down?" he said. Pop's new LP, Après, is a sequel to 2009's Michel Houellebecq-inspired Préliminaires, which also included jazz, soft rock and renditions of French classics. Alongside tracks by Serge Gainsbourg, George Brassens and Édith Piaf, Pop croons versions of the Beatles' Michelle and Harry Nilsson's Everybody's Talkin'. Instead of releasing Après in shops, the record is only available through services such as iTunes. It had its debut on the French website Vente Privée, where it sold for just €7. "I've always had a very rough time in the big-time music business," Pop said. "I got kicked off every label." Despite Pop's comments about spurning "popular" kids, he recently recorded a song with Ke$ha. "Its a fk!ng dream come true," she tweeted on Tuesday. "Iggy + I got a song for yall on my next record … get ready."