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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →In January 2024, reports said BMG was ending its publishing relationship with Roger Waters. The split was reported amid controversy over Waters’s comments on Israel, but the available reporting does not establish BMG’s definitive reason. Waters blamed pressure on BMG’s parent company, Bertelsmann; a source for BMG disputed his account.
What BMG’s reported decision involved
The Guardian reported on Jan. 30, 2024, citing Variety for the news of the split, that BMG was parting ways with Waters. The two had signed a publishing agreement in 2016. This was a reported end to a publishing relationship, not a conventional employment dismissal, even though Waters himself had described being “fired” in a November interview with Glenn Greenwald. The Guardian’s report does not provide a public BMG explanation establishing the company’s motive.
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Amused to Death | $12.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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Wall: Live in Berlin 1990 | $7.47 | Buy on Amazon |
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Roger Waters The Wall | $15.02 | Buy on Amazon |
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This Is Not A Drill – Live From Prague | $14.89 | Buy on Amazon |
The separate album-release plan
BMG had also been scheduled to release Waters’s newly recorded version of Pink Floyd’s 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon, but the planned release was scrapped. The re-recording, titled The Dark Side of the Moon Redux, was ultimately released by UK label Cooking Vinyl. That album plan is related context, but it was distinct from the publishing agreement.
Why Waters said the relationship ended
Waters said the split followed pressure from pro-Israeli interests on Bertelsmann, BMG’s parent company. Euronews reported that a source for BMG did not agree with Waters’s account. Euronews’s account and the Guardian report present competing claims, not a settled explanation from the company.
#1 Best Overall
| Account | What it says | What the reporting establishes |
|---|---|---|
| Waters’s explanation | He attributed the split to pro-Israeli pressure on Bertelsmann. | This is Waters’s allegation; the cited reporting does not independently prove the causal claim. |
| BMG-side response | A source for BMG did not agree with Waters’s account, according to Euronews. | The reporting does not provide a definitive public explanation from BMG. |
Pitchfork reported that neither Waters nor BMG responded to its request for comment. It also noted that Bertelsmann had expressed “solidarity with Israel” after the Oct. 7 attacks. That is relevant background, but it does not by itself show why BMG ended the relationship. Pitchfork’s report likewise leaves the motive unresolved.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Context around the Israel controversy
The reporting places the split amid criticism of Waters’s public comments about Israel, Ukraine, and the United States, along with accusations of antisemitism that Waters denies. The Guardian also described a German police investigation connected to a costume Waters wore during a 2023 Berlin performance and a legal dispute over a planned Frankfurt performance. Those controversies help explain the broader public context; they do not establish BMG’s reason for its decision.
Rank #2
- WATERS ROGER AMUSED TO DEATH
At a Birmingham concert, Waters said, “I will not be cancelled,” according to the Guardian. The remark was his response to the controversy, not evidence of the company’s motive.
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Rank #4
Rank #3
- WATERS ROGER THE WALL - LIVE IN BERLIN (2CD)
What can and cannot be concluded
- Reports in January 2024 said BMG was ending a publishing relationship with Waters that began with an agreement signed in 2016.
- The planned BMG release of his re-recording of The Dark Side of the Moon was scrapped, and Cooking Vinyl ultimately released it.
- Waters attributed the split to pro-Israeli pressure on Bertelsmann; a source for BMG disputed his account.
- The reporting cited here does not establish a definitive reason from BMG, so the claim that the split was caused by Waters’s Israel comments should remain attributed rather than stated as proven.
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