Snoop Dogg recently went on an epic rant about how artists are getting jerked by streaming.
On May 3, Snoop Dogg was a guest at the 2023 Milken Institute Global Conference where he spoke on a panel along with Gamma founder and CEO Larry Jackson. The MIGC is billed as a meeting of “the best minds in the world to tackle its most urgent challenges and realize its most exciting opportunities,” according to the conference’s website. During Snoop’s appearance, the topic of streaming came up, which set the Death Row owner off.
“[Streaming is] exciting but streaming gotta get their s**t together,” Snoop Dogg said. “Because I don’t understand how the f**k you get paid off that s**t. Can somebody explain to me how you can get a billion streams and not get a billion dollars? That s**t don’t make sense to me. I don’t know who the f**k running the steaming industry, whether you in here or not. But, n***a you need to give us some information on how the f**k to track this money down. Because one plus one ain’t adding up to two.”
“That’s the main gripe with a lot of us artists,” Snoop continued. “We do major numbers with streams but it don’t add up to the money. Where the f**k is the money?”
Snoop Dogg said he likes the old school physical sales model better, where artists knew exactly what they should be getting based on the percentage of their deal and album copies sold. He went on to compare streaming to the current writer’s strike in Hollywood.