Snoop Dogg isn’t high on streaming services, and he hasn’t been for a while. After acquiring Death Row Records in February 2022, Snoop removed seminal albums such as his Doggystyle debut and Dr. Dre’s The Chronic from platforms.
“First thing I did was snatch all the music off those platforms traditionally known to people because those platforms don’t pay,” Snoop explained on Drink Champs that April. “And those platforms get millions of millions of streams, and nobody gets paid other than the record labels.”
Snoop resurfaced his opinion on Wednesday night, May 3, in the context of the Writers Guild Of America strike that began earlier this week. He was participating in a panel at Milken Institutes’ Global Conference with Variety executive music editor Shirley Halperin and Larry Jackson, his Gamma business partner.
Per Variety, Snoop called streaming models at the center of the WGA’s dispute “f*cked up.”
“[Artists] need to figure it out the same way the writers are figuring it out. The writers are striking because [of] streaming; they can’t get paid. Because when it’s on the platform, it’s not like in the box office,” Snoop said.
He added, “I don’t understand how the f*ck you get paid off of that sh*t. Somebody explain to me how you can get a billion streams and not get a million dollars? … That’s the main gripe with a lot of us artists is that we do major numbers, … but it don’t add up to the money. Like, where the f*ck is the money?”
Snoop Dogg Shows Solidarity With Writers on Strike: ‘Where the F— Is the Money?’ https://t.co/UsENvH5G89
— Variety (@Variety) May 4, 2023
For what it’s worth, Death Row Records’ catalog returned to streaming services this March.