De La Soul In Dispute with Label Tommy Boy Over Streaming Royalties

Legendary hip hop group De La Soul, made up of Kelvin Mercer (Posdunos), David Jolicoeur (Trugoy), and Vincent Mason (Maseo), are currently disputing with their former label, Tommy Boy Music. The trio were intending to have their catalog brought to streaming services, before they came into a disagreement with Tommy Boy over royalties.

De La Soul’s catalog consisting of 30 years of projects will still available for listeners to stream. However, Pitchfork reports the rap trio enlightening fans over Instagram that they would only be receiving 10% of streaming earnings, while Tommy Boy Records will take the majority 90%. The quote from their Instagram reads,

Dear Fans… 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 fruit of their labor. Your purchases will roughly go 90% Tommy Boy, 10% De La. Thank You.

The discrepancy between both parties goes deeper than royalty issues. In another Instagram post, De La Soul expressed their concern over Tommy Boy’s business handlings, as it appears that the label failed to do due diligence in having the group’s older samples cleared for streaming releases. This lapse in judgement leaves the rap group open to “claims” and “lawsuits”, which will only be dealt with by the label “later on”.

For now, it seems that Tommy Boy is open to negotiations about the royalties, but only if De La Soul agrees to sign a confidentiality agreement beforehand. This does not sit well with the trio, as they express on their Instagram,

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.

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat

UPDATE: In another Pitchfork article, it is reported that Tommy Boy has since postponed the release of De La Soul’s catalog on streaming services. While the release was initially set for tomorrow, it seems that the label has not had the chance to meet with the trio and talk negotiations.