The Chainsmokers Go Independent After 11 Years With Columbia/Disruptor

The Chainsmokers are independent artists after 11 years inside the major-label system.

Drew Taggart and Alex Pall announced the change on Oct. 13 in a joint social media statement. They have parted ways with Columbia/Disruptor Records, according to Billboard. Independence here means they will operate without a major label behind them.

The parting ends one of the longer recent partnerships in mainstream pop. The duo's first single through Columbia/Disruptor was "Good Intentions" in 2015. That relationship then ran through five studio albums. Their most recent release under the deal was the Love Is Kind EP, a shorter collection than a full album, issued in May 2026, according to Billboard.

Columbia is the flagship pop label within Sony Music, one of the three major music groups alongside Universal and Warner. Disruptor sat inside that structure. It was organised as a joint venture with Sony, a company jointly owned and run with founder Adam Alpert.

Alpert was central to the story. He founded Disruptor and also served as the duo's manager. Taggart and Pall dissolved that management deal in 2025, almost a year before the label exit. The two steps together cut the formal business ties between the artists and their former manager's companies.

Working without a label changes who does what. An independent act usually pays for recording itself and then hires outside help for distribution, which gets the music onto streaming services and into shops, marketing and radio promotion. Many independent artists use a distribution company, a service that delivers music to streaming platforms for a fee or a share of revenue. It keeps more control over timing and ownership. It also carries the costs and the admin that a label would normally handle.

For fans, this means the next music will arrive under a different set-up. There is no label timetable now. The duo can release a single, an EP or an album when they choose, and can work with any distributor or partner for each project.

Eleven years is a long stretch for any label deal. This one lasted from a debut single to five albums and a final EP. What comes next will be the first Chainsmokers music released on their own.