De La Soul's streaming release postponed; Nas & others boycott Tommy Boy

De La Soul recently revealed that their classic albums would finally be coming to streaming services, but at a major expense for the group, who said they would be getting “roughly 10%” of the revenue while the other 90% would be going to their former label Tommy Boy Records. Now, in the wake of the drama, Tommy Boy tells Variety that they’ve decided to postpone the streaming release.

“Because Tommy Boy has not had the opportunity to sit down together with De La Soul and finalize our negotiations — something we’ve wanted to do for months — we have decided to postpone the digital release of their catalog scheduled for tomorrow,” the label said. “We know fans are eager to hear these amazing recordings and we are hopeful for a quick resolution.”

Variety says that a Tommy Boy rep stressed that sampling was not a central issue of the disagreement, and that “negotiating points are still to be finalized.” (De La Soul have faced legal issues over uncleared samples for decades.)

De La Soul’s latest update on Instagram reads: “Dear fans, Tommy Boy wants to negotiate, but only if we sign a confidentiality agreement first. Feels like they want to silence us to ensure that we cannot share this story with you, while they continue to short change our legacy at the negotiating table. How about we close a deal first, then we agree to keep the deal confidential.”

De La also said that they spoke to TIDAL and that TIDAL “has decided not to stream [their] catalog until this matter has been resolved.” “Thank you TIDAL… thank you Jay,” they add.

Nas, Questlove, Public Enemy, Public Enemy’s Chuck D, and A Tribe Called Quest’s Jarobi White have also been posting Instagrams urging people to boycott Tommy Boy:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BuZj03QnB4F/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BubOY5dnOFN/