De La Soul has scored a small victory in their battle with Tommy Boy Records. On Tuesday (February 26), Pos, Dave and Maseo revealed their catalog would finally be available on digital platforms — but at a high price.
According to an Instagram post, 90 percent of the streaming revenue would go to the label while 10 percent would be divvied up between the group.
In the caption, De La urged their fans to support 2004’s The Grind Date and 2016’s And The Anonymous Nobody instead, the two albums not released through Tommy Boy.
Now, the legendary New York trio has support from TIDAL and JAY-Z. In another Instagram post, De La revealed the streaming service wouldn’t be sharing their catalog until their issues with Tommy Boy were hashed out.
“Dear Fans, just got off the phone with TIDAL,” the post read. “In support of the artist, TIDAL has decided not to stream our catalog until this matter has been resolved. Thank you TIDAL…Thank you JAY.”
Prior to De La’s most recent update, the group explained how shocked they were to hear Tommy Boy wasn’t concerned with any potential sample clearance issues — at least not now.
“Dear Fans…so check this one out!!” the post begins. Monday, when confronted and questioned whether or not all samples had been cleared for our catalogs streaming release, Tommy Boy felt that it would be better to move forward with the release and deal with all claims/lawsuits later on…really???? That’s just not smart business. We don’t want to be sued.”
They apologized to their fans in the caption.
“We are being placed in the line of fire @discogs @spotify @applemusic @tidal @googleplay @deezer @vinylmeplease @amazonmusic,” it read. “We understand respect and appreciate your support and business.
“We regret that you and fans have been place in the middle of this mess. De La Soul cannot afford negligent hurried business. We are fighting for our livelihood. Imagine trying to settle a #phantom2millionddollardebt and now possible lawsuits lurking??? There goes that 10% Thank you @tommyboyrecords.”
Several of De La’s peers have pledged support for their situation, including Questlove, A Tribe Called Quest’s Jarobi White and The Beat Junkies’ DJ Rhettmatic. They’re calling for a “Tommy Boy Boycott.”
Check out their reactions below.
Tommy Boy is fucking them with no Vaseline jack. A damn shame
kinda funny how Maseo hated jay with a passion and now they thank him
Hate?? Nah bruh, I think you reaching.
i used to listen to his radio show and he went more than once on rants about how he´s tired of hearing people talk about jay “he is overrated and never did anything for his people…”
I guess Jay must’ve heard Maseo and then changed his ways.
It’s crazy to me that although these labels have a well established history of fuckery, people are still allowing themselves to be fucked royally.
They signed their contract in 1988 when they were teenagers.
outlaw free mp3s with malware and bring the money back. plenty of legal mp3 online.
Will only support artists. Withouten them there would be no hip hop. Therefore will purchase the anonymous nobody
You gotta read the label
You gotta read the label
If you don’t read the label you might get poisoned……
They the ones who signed the contract.
They signed it in ’88. Obviously they were young and naive back then.
So when will the albums be up? I don’t see them on any platforms. I’ve been waiting years for 3 feet high and rising to be streamable.
so just wasting bandwidth over & over do u not own a computer back up & stream forever with a cd & then sell the cd streaming is a mind boggling waste of time & energy
Industry rule #4080. Record company people are shady……
Dude, what’s with this victim ass mentality in Hip-Hop. How greedy are these artists, and how come everybody supports this bullshit? THEY SIGNED A CONTRACT! they were well aware of the stipulations of said contract. Also, the overlying issue here are the SAMPLES THEY (Prince Paul) used without clearance. They were sued for HUGE money back in the day for using The The Turtles music without permission. Now this is a new development 25-30 years later? Of course the label is like “play that shit, we’ll deal with lawsuits later”, they don’t give a shit if De La gets their 10%. They still sell out shoes and are doing well financially. Make smart moves moving forward. You signed the deal you signed back in the day either because you were naive (stupid), or didn’t have any other options. Now the law shouldn’t apply to them because they aren’t making enough money for being shitty at business? I swear ALL of hip-hop are becoming some Whiney ass, SJW idiots. Wait a minute, record labels fuck over artists with contracts that benefit THE RECORD LABEL? Jesus, I think I’m going to have a heart attack.
Man if that’s how you live you are a laydown bitch. You may have made a stupid move, but hell, that doesn’t mean you don’t fight to rectify the situation.
Thats like saying if you were hired by a company 30 years ago at minimum wage back then you should be making the same amount today. I get they signed the contract but there is always room to negotiate new terms. I doubt De La is depending on the back catalog exclusively given their ability to tour worldwide but 90/10? C’mon.
The work was somebody 30 years ago, idiot, and you SOLD it. It is no longer YOURS. How fucking stupid are you and your lame ass comparison? Quite simply put, if they were in the RIGHT, and had any legal grounds to stand on, there wouldn’t be this bullshit “boycott” going on. As far as the “landowners bitch” comment, we aren’t all your mom. If I sign a contract and fucked up, if leave it at that. I wouldn’t be on them internet embarrassing myself for being a shitty businessman.
You are way to passionate about this shit homie, chill out with the internet tuff talk. I get it people like you are used to talking crazy because it’s online but you need to relax, lol! I’m not De La’s lawyer. Your panties are in a bunch dude.
does he not own a cd player or cd? if already purchased & supported why would you keep purchasing,of you have the vinyl and are a dj you can share a million ways without the internet geez you know them book em for a show would be like streaming them 10 million times bizzaro
“Del la Soul looking like Larry Holmes, flabby and shit…” that’s a Tupac quote. Turns out he was getting fleeced by his label too. This is somehow news? You signed the contract, dummies. Don’t bitch. Take it like a motherfucking man. “I sold my home to a real estate company for 10% of its value. It was written plain as day in the contract. Everybody boycott the real estate company because I’m terrible at business.” Pretty lame, actually. Q-Tip got paid $5000 total for the first ATCQ álbum, or something like that back in the day. They did whatever they had to to get on, now they’re bitching about it. “I want to unsuck all of those fat, creepy old white man ducks I had to suck to become a multi-millionaire award winning actress, after the fact.” Bitch, take it like a grown woman. You sacrificed what you did to get on. No takebacks.
You’re missing the point. De La signed signed their first contract over 30 years ago. This was before streaming and sample laws. I get they signed the contract (they where teenagers btw) but Tommy Boy should be a little more fair with the revenue splits. De La, along with Soul Sonic Force broke Tommy Boy as a label… they should show some respect.
Naw. They should run their business like a business. Tommy Boy didn’t just come up with 90%, or De La would have legal grounds to sue them. You think labels show cats respect? Like Heller with NWA, or Def Jam did with every pioneering artist? No omen makes money off of streams other than then person or entity that owns the IP. Facts. Most artists make their money off of live shows. This isn’t some Dindu bullshit. Ain’t no one boycotting NWA because MC Ren is broke. They had a WAY bigger impact on hip-Hop. Now athletes from the 90’s should bitch about the money from videogames and jerseys, because they suck at business. That makes sense.
It is what it is. I’m not their attorney or business advisor. De La isn’t starving. I’ll leave the back and forth to you “experts” online.
Remember that when I take yo shit.
For all the motherfuckers out there blaming on De la …… eat a dick!!
You are a cancer for the hip hop community.
An huge big fat scumbag. Silence please.
Yeah, they signed a deal 30 years ago .
Nobody can’t deny the revolution they brought to hip hop. Conctracts must be renegotiate. We ‘re not talkin’ about a Ja rule type ass artist.
I want them to be fairly compensated, but to be honest they’re hurting themselves if the end result is their stuff not being on digital. I might go out and buy an album on vinyl if I hear it digitally. If that opportunity doesn’t present itself, me and everyone like me are going to go right past De La in the record store.
Like why are you mad? Really? I saw the Sway interview like a bunch of other ppl. Maybe Jay saw it and made the decision not to stream it on the strength of himself. Are you more mad that Tidal is keeping Tommy Boy from getting money? Someone here types like they work for em. If you don’t acknowledge it was a different technology that requires the renegotiation, you’re probably looking for a misunderstanding…..that isn’t there. Y’all know what it is….