https://pitchfork.com/news/de-la-souls-catalog-heading-to-streaming-band-say-theyll-only-see-pennies/amp/

De La Soul’s Catalog Heading to Streaming, Band Say They’ll Only See “Pennies”
The rap trio claim Tommy Boy will collect 90% of streaming money, cite “unbalanced, unfair terms”


BY: NOAH YOO FEB 27 2019
RAP
De La Soul are sparring with their former record label Tommy Boy about bringing their back catalog to streaming services. In a series of posts on the rap trio’s Instagram, they communicated their dismay over the terms of their agreement with Tommy Boy. “We are not happy about releasing our catalog under such unbalanced, unfair terms,” they wrote on February 26. In another post, they said, “The music WILL be released digitally. After 30 long years of good music and paying their debt to hip-hop, De La Soul unfortunately, will not taste the fruits of their labor. Your purchases will roughly go 90% Tommy Boy, 10% De La. Thank you.”

Today, they released more statements via Instagram, claiming Tommy Boy had not done the due diligence of clearing samples in the back catalog before making plans to make it available to stream. “We are being placed in the line of fire... De La Soul cannot afford negligent hurried business. We are fighting for our livelihood,” a caption reads. “Imagine trying to settle a #phantom2milliondollardebt and now possible lawsuits lurking??? There goes that 10%.” De La Soul then revealed that Tidal had reportedly agreed not to stream their back catalog in solidarity.

During an interview on “Sway In the Morning,” De La Soul’s Maseo explained that after Tommy Boy’s rights were moved over to Warner Bros. Records, potential sample infractions within the De La Soul records kept the label from making them available on streaming services. The De La Soul catalog has since been reacquired by Tommy Boy. Trugoy cited Tommy Boy head Tom Silverman’s lack of faith in the group’s seminal debut 3 Feet High and Rising as a reason why the samples were never cleared.

“Because of the fact that Tommy Boy—Tom Silverman, in particular—didn’t think that 3 Feet High and Rising was going to do well at all,” he told Sway. “Because of that reason, they decided not to clear stuff.” The group also stated that they will only see “pennies” in royalties once the albums are put on streaming platforms. Find their full appearance below.

Pitchfork has reached out to representatives for Tommy Boy for further comment.

Read our Sunday Review of De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising.

So many Saturday mornings, I've tried to pull up Roller Jam on Apple Music to play for the kids only to be stonewalled.

But damn, this sucks for DLS. Hopefully some more beneficial agreement can be reached.

..and the reason Biz got jammed up was because he lifted the melody, the chorus and the title. Before that, people were just sampling anything and thought they were gonna squeeze by with the 'it's a cover' & parody loopholes. Nope! Shoulda known not to take the white stuff. That's where they fucked it up.

download

for free

pretty sure OK put me onto it

Did folks not take advantage of that?

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If you can't understand it without an explanation

you can't understand it with an explanation

Streaming is the way most people are consuming music these days. Even people who still have mp3s are streaming at work, on their phones, in their cars. And De La is getting fucked by Tommy Boy on their impending streaming profits.

--

"You can't beat white people. You can only knock them out."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2460&v=XqOo8MCljeg

No doubt, that's fucked up

Is there anything we can do as fans?

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If you can't understand it without an explanation

you can't understand it with an explanation

tommy boy wants to sit down with de la to negotiate

https://variety.com/2019/biz/news/de-la-souls-digital-album-releases-postponed-by-tommy-boy-records-exclusive-1203152398/

theyre looking to work with De La on putting their music on streaming

https://pitchfork.com/news/new-de-la-soul-catalog-owners-say-theyll-work-with-band-to-bring-albums-to-streaming-services/

https://variety.com/2021/music/news/de-la-soul-streaming-services-tommy-boy-1234988719/

De La Soul posted on Instagram, “Woke up feeling a sense of greater peace of mind….”

hopefully this bears fruit.

I have everything already anyway, but it would nice to have it on streaming especially as it will allow a lot of potentially new fans to check them out. I hope they make a big deal of it when they roll it out to streaming services.

I have all their music in different file formats and on vinyl (well their studio albums). I would love to be able to actually share a link to their older songs or add them to playlists along with other music.

I'm sure there are a lot of people that haven't bothered checking them out because you can't stream their older music.

I'm hoping for the biggest rollout once they come to an agreement. Hopefully some official represses that have the groups blessings to go along with streaming.

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They straight up could. not. figure out how to get all 3 of them on the live no matter how many times dozens of the viewers told them exactly how to do it lol.

At first it was just Maseo and Dave, then Mase dropped off and Pos joined Dave. Then they were yelling at Mase to request to join and 5 minutes passed before he was finally able to get in.

...... but Mase fell off after about 30 seconds. So Dave and Pos were like, fuck it let's just start anyway. So Dave said something like "So we're really excited cuz we missed the whole download era from like 2003 thru 2014 or 2015, and so ...." then he just ... legit went mute but kept talking anyway for no joke a full minute before he noticed everyone screaming at him in the chat that he was on mute lol. Bunch of "I'm not good at reading lips, Dave" and shit like that haha. Pos was cracking up laughing, before finally deciding to help his best friend by getting his attention and letting him know that no one could hear him.

They finally figured it out after no joke about 45 mins. Bunch of folks in the chat were begging for portions of this to be a Prince Paul-esque skit on the next album.

I fucking love these dudes. So glad they're gonna be back in our lives more regularly. They all looked good and healthy, too.

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I'm not sure if younger generations current revere De La like we do. That's likely because they simply haven't had access to their music since many fans only stream.

But it's my sincere hope that De La's music and the view of the group as musical innovators continues on in the newer generations of hip-hop heads.

So much of what we know of and appreciate about hip-hop is because De La normalized it. Anyone who became a fan of hip hop and is somewhat socially awkward with their peers, a pop culture nerd, or is more of an everyman owes their 'lane' to De La.

There are no Pharrell's or Tyler's or Pharcyde's or a host of other acts without De La.

<--- Me when my head hits the pillow

....the fact that they are banned from streaming will actually make the day when their catalog appears a huge event in hip hop and honestly music in general ..the day their music shows up on streaming services, you're going to see celebrity social media celebrating along with all their fans ..i think a new generation of die hard fans will emerge

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... especially their first 3 albums, that it will be fresh and new to the younger generations. On top of just the fact that their name has always been so prevalent in hop hop circles no matter whether their music was available or not, and the fact that their name has been in the news lately for what you describe above.

I really think (and hope to god, for their sake .. they deserve it on a million levels) that their music will resonate with a ton of younger people who'd never heard their discog before. They really are that timeless, and that unparalleled in my opinion. For example hip hop these days isn't 3 verses and a bridge/hook. De La was and is so innovative that I think that will resonate with kids who like the current style of hip hop being released, because they were always unorthodox compared w/their peers as well.

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"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

Especially the 10-year-old; they're his favorite group. He's pretty obsessed with their Prince Paul era stuff, and even knows that lots of "older" people love their third album the most. In fact, I'm supposed to try sand bring the three-sided 12" over for him to listen to today, but I can't find my 3 Feet era 12"s.

Of course, that's only my personal experience, and I'm not going to pretend like my nephews represent every up-and-coming hip-hop fan, but it certainly makes me happy.

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Yea I mean I really think there's just some music that transcends time, generations, and will live on for a long long long time. In hip hop I think De La is one of those groups. Their music does not sound dated to me, does not sound of its time as much as some of the other 80s/early 90s hip hop. I really believe that young kids will find something to love about them. There is truly no one like them, never has been and never will be.

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"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

I’m partial to the first two.

Peace,

Spirit (Alan)
http://wutangbook.com

And I know (both in my personal life and just from seeing folks discuss it online) folks who like Stakes is High the most as well.

Not atypical. And I'd have a hard time arguing with anyone who'd pick any of the first 4 as their favorite.

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>I'd have a hard time arguing with anyone
>who'd pick any of the first 4 as their favorite.


exactly... that said, I rank them exactly in the order they were released.

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>And I know (both in my personal life and just from seeing
>folks discuss it online) folks who like Stakes is High the
>most as well.
>
>Not atypical. And I'd have a hard time arguing with anyone
>who'd pick any of the first 4 as their favorite.


Adore all four, but over time their 3rd and 4th are what I go back to the most.

__
I don't like the beat anymore because its just a loop. ALC didn't FLIP IT ENOUGH!

Flip it enough? Flip these. Flip off. Go flip some f*cking burgers.(c)Kno

Allied State of the National Electric Beat Treaty Organization (NEBTO)

>Adore all four, but over time their 3rd and 4th are what I go
>back to the most.

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"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

BUT it changes from time to time. like others have said their first 4 are all on the same level. just a matter of preference. buhloone is so cohesive. i do think it took years for me to place it slightly above the rest but right now i would say i love it the most.

>buhloone is so cohesive.

I've found that I prefer shorter, tighter, and more cohesive albums more than hours-long, 18+ song albums.

Both can be (and are) great, always. But when I'm ranking albums, whether one artists' discog or just favorite albums of all time, I tend to gravitate towards those more focused efforts. i.e. Buhloone Mindstate of course, but also Graduation by Kanye. I *love* his first 2 albums but preferred and still prefer Graduation because it's shorter, and more focused on a singular and particular soundscape.

Another example is Be by Common. It's probably not my *favorite* Common album if I'm being honest, but it's definitely among his most cohesive and tightest albums. Resurrection is a bit longer but I think falls into that same category because there's no wasted space and the vibe is super consistent throughout.

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"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

Then Stakes.

Grind Date is insanely dope.

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"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

I own the CDs but I'm down to double dip on some colored vinyl.

I'd still buy if they were 180gram...but colors to match the covers would be dope.

phemom's the name, all-star writer/
searching 4 journalistic fame, mindframe igniter....www.twitter.com/hayabusaage

Maybe a sign that the rest is on the way?

https://open.spotify.com/album/2M9ze61p2uZZZKKl3qw3FD?si=6OKL2-F6QOu8WAFYhkTH1A

Someone has gotta get "The Magic Number" on streaming ASAP.

For those that don't know it's at the end of the latest Spider-Man movie...and honestly I'm not really sure how that specific song got chosen for that scene.

That isn't a complaint or anything it's just kinda left field....but I was happy to hear it all 3 times I saw the movie in the theatre lol.

Sidebar: Is "The Magic Number" a top 20 De La song?

phemom's the name, all-star writer/
searching 4 journalistic fame, mindframe igniter....www.twitter.com/hayabusaage

was it in an actual scene? i thought it was just in the credits.

the end credits.