Morrissey is out of a record deal after the label BMG parted ways with the controversial ex-Smiths frontman.

“BMG have appointed a new Executive who does not want another Morrissey album,” reads a statement posted to the site Morrissey Central. “Instead, the new BMG Executive has announced new plans for ‘diversity’ within BMG’s artist roster, and all projected BMG Morrissey releases/reissues have been scrapped.”

“This news is perfectly in keeping with the relentless galvanic horror of 2020,” Morrisey’s statement declares. “We would be critically insane to expect anything positive.”

Morrissey had released three albums on BMG: 2017’s Low in High School, the 2019 covers collection California Son, and this year’s I Am Not a Dog on a Chain.

“My three albums with BMG have been the best of my career, and I stand by them till death,” Morrissey says. “Recording them has been a pivotal period in my life, and I thank the previous BMG team and everyone involved for that.”

“It’s still important to me to do music my own way,” he adds. “And I wouldn’t want to be on a label that dictates so specifically how their artists should behave — especially when the word ‘talent’ is notably never mentioned.”

For its part, BMG tells Pitchfork that its parting ways with Morrissey simply reflects the end of his three-album contract.

“BMG has released three exceptional Top-10 albums from Morrissey over the past three years, including some of the best work of his career,” the label says. “That three album deal has now come to an end. We wish him well in the next chapter of his career.”

Morrissey has come under fire in recent years due to his support of the far-right For Britain political party.

By Josh Johnson
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