Snoop Dogg on why he's removed Death Row catalogue from streaming platforms

Iconic rapper Snoop Dogg has revealed why he chose to remove the Death Row catalogue from various streaming platforms in a new interview. 

In February, Snoop announced that he was the new owner of Death Row Records, the legendary record label which kicked off his career some 30 years ago. The label was founded in 1991 by  Suge Knight, Dr. Dre and Michael ‘Harry O’ Harris. Snoop was one of the three main formative artists responsible for the success of the west-coast rap label alongside Dr. Dre and 2Pac.

Speaking on the latest episode of the Drink Champs podcast with co-hosts DJ EFN and N.O.R.E., Snoop discussed his decision to remove the Death Row catalogue from digital streaming platforms. “First thing I did was snatch all the music off those platforms traditionally known to people because those platforms don’t pay,” Snoop said.

“And those platforms get millions of millions of streams, and nobody gets paid other than the record labels,” he added. “So what I wanted to do is snatch my music off, create a platform similar to Amazon, Netflix, Hulu. It’ll be a Death Row app, and the music, in the meantime, will live in the metaverse.”

Death Row has had several owners over the past three decades including toy company Hasbro, who paid a staggering $3.8billion to buy Canadian studio Entertainment One Ltd. (eOne) in December 2019. Part of the studio’s assets included Death Row, which it purchased in 2013 after the rap label’s previous parent company went out of business.

On February 9th this year, Snoop signed a deal with MNRK Music Group, which is owned by private equity fund Blackstone, to become the new owner of Death Row.

The precise details of the deal haven’t been disclosed, but it is thought to include rights to the label’s catalogue.  “I am thrilled and appreciative of the opportunity to acquire the iconic and culturally significant Death Row Records brand, which has immense untapped future value,” Snoop said in a press release.

“It feels good to have ownership of the label I was part of at the beginning of my career and as one of the founding members. This is an extremely meaningful moment for me. I would like to personally thank the teams at Blackstone, MNRK and especially David Kestnbaum, who worked collaboratively with me over several months to make this exciting homecoming a reality.”

Snoop concluded his statement: “I’m looking forward to building the next chapter of Death Row Records.”

Snoop also recently announced plans to release the influential Dr. Dre (ft. Snoop Dogg) track ‘Nuthin’ But A G Thang’ as an NFT as one of his first actions for the label.