Snoop Dogg discusses why Death Row Records music disappeared from streaming services on a recent podcast.
The legendary rapper appeared on an episode of the Drink Champs podcast with co-hosts DJ EFN and N.O.R.E.. Snoop explained why the music has disappeared from streaming services like Spotify and the answer is simple. Spotify doesn’t pay artists well.
“First thing I did was snatch all the music off those platforms traditionally known to people, because those platforms don’t pay,” Snoop Dogg says about his first move as owner of the legendary hip-hop label.
“Those platforms get millions of millions of streams, and nobody gets paid other than the record labels. So what I wanted to do is snatch my music off, create a platform similar to Amazon, Netflix, or Hulu. It’ll be a Death Row app, and the music will live in the metaverse in the meantime,” Snoop adds.
Snoop Dogg has been very heavily involved in the world of NFTs and cryptocurrency. The rapper revealed he was legendary NFT speculator Cozomo de’ Medici in September 2021. “I have been thinking a lot about this and I have realized my real life celebrity status may bring many welcomed eyeballs to NFT. So if I reach 10,000 followers by weekend’s end; come Monday (Sept. 20), I will dox myself and reveal my true identity,” the account tweeted.
True to his word, the official Snoop Dogg Twitter account tweeted that day, “I am @CozomoMedici.” Snoop Dogg says he hopes the Death Row Records platform will be a breakout platform in this industry.
“I want to create an avenue to where I can show people how to not always have to go through the slave trade,” the rapper said, referring to the traditional path through the music industry. “To create our own trade where we’re engaging with our fans that’s buying our music, that’s making money off the music, and then making us money of the music by it being traded and sold.”
Snoop says his latest album Bacc on Death Row made him $21 million in the metaverse on the first day. While legendary albums like Doggystyle and The Doggfather are missing from traditional streaming platforms, they are still available on TIDAL. So what’s the rub there? TIDAL traditionally pays better royalty rates than any of its competitors – aside from Napster. Yes, Napster.