When Megan & Liz announced their single and upcoming EP, Simple Life, (out June 3) it finally ended six months of silence on the pop sister-duo’s end when it came to new music. The only problem was with that announcement came an announcement of a different sort: the girls would be leaving their management and now-defunct record label, which meant that their previously planned full-length, Look What You Started, would be canceled.

Megan and Liz Billboard Party
Megan & Liz Releasing Simple Life On June 3

On April 23, Billboard unveiled the title track to Simple Life, as well as a statement from Megan & Liz regarding the departure from their management, The Collective, and record label, Collective Sounds.

"We have had great success to date with The Collective and we would like to thank them for offering us an incredible opportunity," said the duo’s Megan Mace in a statement for Billboard.

While the article revealed details about upcoming music, it never explicitly stated that Look What You Started was canceled, but Megan Mace set the record straight in a Q&A on Tumblr.

“Look What You Started doesn’t exist anymore, technically. We don’t own the songs,” Mace said in response to a fan questioning the album’s uncertainty.

Originally planned to be released this past February, Look What You Started came to fruition mid-2012, when Megan & Liz debuted ‘Bad for Me.’ After bringing hitmaker Max Martin aboard in June 2013 to take over another single, ‘Release You,’ it was clear that Megan & Liz had a gem of an album in the making.

Megan and Liz Jingle BallMegan & Liz's 'Bad For Me' Peaked At #34 On US Pop Chart

‘Release You’ failed to take off commercially like it should have, and although Simple Life is sure to be another highlight in their catalog, we’ll never know just how big some of the potential tracks could have been. ‘All Alright,’ a track planned for the full-length, had one of the most addicting choruses around (all that exists is a 17 second clip), but won’t be included on Simple Life due its pop production. Even though some tracks from the full-length’s sessions will be included (‘Grave,’ ‘Karma’s Coming Back for Me,’), it won’t be in the same form that was hyped for years.

Their situation is eerily similar -- and as equally heartbreaking -- to that of former-RCA Records artist Cady Groves. Groves, who was signed in 2010, only released three singles over three years. After making an album with writers such as Savan Kotecha and Kristian Lundin, it was shelved by RCA. Groves left the label in 2013 and is currently working on new songs independently, but like Look What You Started, Groves doesn’t own the rights to that record she made. It’ll never see the light of day.

Listen to Cady Groves' song, 'Love Actually':

However, at the end of the day, the bigger picture is that both Groves and Megan & Liz avoided career-crippling situations that were brought upon by record labels. It’s a shame that we’ll never get to experience the works they created in the way they intended, but the fact they’re still making music at all is a victory in itself. Does this mean record labels are evil? Not at all, but it also doesn’t mean that either of them need a label to be successful. In the case that Groves and Megan & Liz do sign elsewhere someday, we can only hope that their label sees everything in them that their fans have seen since the beginning.