DEPECHE MODE NEXT
OUT WMG DOOR

The latest high-profile act to sever ties with Warner Music Group is Depeche Mode.

The veteran English band is managed by Jonathan Kessler, who brought them to Mute Records in 1980, while in the States the band has been on Sire/WB since that time.

Outside the U.S., Depeche has been with EMI since it acquired Mute in 2002, and the group continues to sell records and do big business on the road, especially in Europe, but the principals decided to sever ties with Warner domestically after concluding that they’d been under-served by the Tom Whalley regime.

Depeche now joins a prestigious crew of defectors that includes AC/DC, the Eagles, Jewel, Madonna and, most recently, Nickelback, leading many to wonder who will be the next major act to exit stage right.