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Morrissey’s latest album is no longer any of Universal’s business

By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 22 August 2014

Hey, so it turns out Morrissey was right. His deal with Universal/Capitol’s Harvest imprint really has come to an end, and his latest album, ‘World Peace Is None Of Your Business’, is in the process of being removed from digital services.

Word from Universal is still not forthcoming on the matter, but sometimes actions speak louder than words. And removing an artist’s album from sale just over a month after its release seems pretty loud and clear.

Concluding a long dispatch on his perceived failures of the label, Morrissey said via fansite True To You earlier this week: “I might be wrong, but I think ‘World Peace Is None Of Your Business’ will instantly disappear from iTunes and record stores and every download-upload-offload outlet on the planet, because Harvest technically have no right to sell it”. The major presumably lost said right with the end of the deal because Morrissey only ever licensed them the content.

Now, “instant” the removal was not, but gradually the album did disappear from US digital services yesterday. And while it’s still currently available on Spotify in the UK at the time of writing, as of this morning it has been removed from iTunes here too.

What will happen to the album now is unclear. Morrissey could fire up his PC and get the record back on the digital services himself pretty easily. However, he still seems pretty set on finding a third party to do that for him, saying: “I still believe that there’s a label out there with my name on it, and one that will issue ‘World Peace Is None Of Your Business’, and afford it the respect it deserves”.

Respectful labels, get your applications in now.