Source: Jerod Harris / Getty / Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg wants to know, “Where the f*ck is the money?”
The WGA is currently in the streets demanding better pay and other assurances from Hollywood, and Snoop Dogg wants the same for music artists.
Speaking on a panel earlier this week alongside his business partner and former Apple Music executive and Gamma founder Larry Johnson, plus Variety‘s Shirley Halperin, the West Coast rapper urged artists to boycott streaming services for being stingy with the coins, and they can take some lesson from the writers to make that happen.
“[Artists] need to figure it out the same way the writers are figuring it out,” the “Gin & Juice” crafter said. “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.”
He continued, “I don’t understand how the fuck you get paid off of that shit. 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 fuck is the money?”
YouTube also caught a stray from Snoop after Jackson spoke about Gamma only receiving $15,000 in payout money from 500 million YouTube Shorts streams. “YouTube, y’all motherf*ckers need to break bread or fake dead!” he added.
Snoop Dogg’s Beef With Music Streaming Is Nothing New
With the help of Jackson’s Gamma, whom he has a long-term deal with, Snoop Dogg pulled the iconic record label’s music catalog back on streaming services.
Gamma also quietly helped get Death Row’s music on TikTok in February. That move came a year after Uncle Snoop acquired Death Row Records, hence why he has been handing out Death Row chains like they’re Halloween candy. He also pulled the label’s music off streaming services because he was not feeling the artist payout situation.
During a Drink Champs episode last year, he didn’t bite his tongue about streaming services being cheap with the dough.
“First thing I did was snatch all the music off those platforms traditionally known to people, because those platforms don’t pay,” he told the Drink Champs crew. “And those platforms get 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, Hulu. It’ll be a Death Row app, and the music, in the meantime, will live in the metaverse.”
We don’t know if that metaverse or app will hit, but more power to the Doggfather.
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Photo: Jerod Harris / Getty