Tidal Refuses to Stream De La Soul’s Catalog at Request of the Group

De La Soul has been going back and forth with their former record label Tommy Boy while trying to get their back catalog on streaming services.

While it’s good news for fans, De La Soul detailed the “unbalanced, unfair terms” with Tommy Boy, who they say will get 90% of the profits from streaming services.

“We are not happy about releasing our catalog under such unbalanced, unfair terms. 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.” 

The group followed up on Instagram, revealing that Tommy Boy hadn’t cleared samples on some songs in their back catalog, setting them up for lawsuits. After various artists spoke out against Tommy Boy online, Tidal revealed that they are standing with De La Soul and are not streaming the back catalog until the matter is resolved. De La Soul’s Maseo explained the situation during an interview with Sway, where he stated:

“Because of the fact that Tommy Boy—Tom Silverman, in particular—didn’t think that 3 Feet High and Risingwas going to do well at all. Because of that reason, they decided not to clear stuff.”