BMG Germany and DMB Dissolve Relationship?

By Waldo Jaquith
It appears that Dave Matthews Band and BMG Germany have dissolved their relationship, if the de-listing of DMB from BMG Germany's website is any indicator. It was two years ago that BMG's UK website removed the band from their website, which proved to be the first sign that their relationship with DMB had come to an end, and a year ago that things started to look sketchy between BMG Germany and the band. With the pending merger between BMG and Sony, it's possible that BMG Germany is simply purging their roster, but it's also possible that the band, having just signed a new contract with RCA/BMG, is exercising their newfound power over their distribution rights outside of North America. This may be the first sign that Dave Matthews Band is giving up on succeeding outside of the U.S., something that they've never managed to do, or it may be a sign that they are starting from scratch, thinking that they can pull it off better than BMG, who has, by all accounts, done a pretty pathetic job. Our thanks to Christian Boecker of nancies.de for putting these puzzle pieces together.