Zoom Image

Singer Lindemann: Solo album on his own

Photo: Malte Krudewig / dpa

Last Friday, Till Lindemann released his first new song since a perfidious system for providing young women for sexual contact at the concerts of his band Rammstein became public. »Zunge« is only the harbinger of a complete solo album, which Till Lindemann is releasing for the first time under his own first and last name.

The album is expected in time for Lindemann's European tour, which is scheduled to begin on November 8 in Leipzig. But unlike the vast majority of music recordings in which Till Lindemann was involved – whether with Rammstein, solo or even the last album of his project Lindemann with Peter Tägtgren – the album will not be released by the industry leader Universal Music.

This was first reported by the Danish music magazine Gaffa. The music journalists had stumbled upon the fact that the note "under exclusive license to Universal Music GmbH" was missing in the fine print on Spotify for the new song "Zunge". He had been part of Till Lindemann's solo releases from 2021, such as »Ich hasse Kinder«.

In response to an inquiry from SPIEGEL, a spokeswoman for Universal Music in Berlin confirmed that Till Lindemann and Universal Music had "jointly decided in August 2023 to suspend the collaboration for the solo album planned for autumn 2023".

At that time, the background was the public prosecutor's investigation against Till Lindemann. These have since been discontinued. But apparently they did not want to wait for such a decision. "In order for the album to be released in time for the start of the concert tour planned for November 2023, Till Lindemann and Universal Music have mutually decided that Till Lindemann can release this album without Universal Music," the record company's statement continues.

In mid-June, Universal Music "suspended marketing and promotion activities for the band's recordings until further notice after the allegations against Lindemann and Rammstein became known." At the time, they were "convinced that a full investigation of the allegations, including by the authorities, was absolutely necessary".

With the current reference to the now discontinued public prosecutor's investigations, one apparently wants to keep all options open for the future. In any case, the Universal statement concludes with the sentence: "We will jointly inform you about future publications in due course."

Feb