The rap trio claim Tommy Boy will collect 90% of streaming money, cite “unbalanced, unfair terms”

De La Soul are sparring with their former record label Tommy Boy about bringing their back catalog to streaming services. In a series of posts on the rap trio’s Instagram, they communicated their dismay over the terms of their agreement with Tommy Boy. “We are not happy about releasing our catalog under such unbalanced, unfair terms,” they wrote on February 26. In another post, they said, “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 fruits of their labor. Your purchases will roughly go 90% Tommy Boy, 10% De La. Thank you.”

Today, they released more statements via Instagram, claiming Tommy Boy had not done the due diligence of clearing samples in the back catalog before making plans to make it available to stream. “We are being placed in the line of fire... De La Soul cannot afford negligent hurried business. We are fighting for our livelihood,” a caption reads. “Imagine trying to settle a #phantom2milliondollardebt and now possible lawsuits lurking??? There goes that 10%.” De La Soul then revealed that Tidal had reportedly agreed not to stream their back catalog in solidarity.

During an interview on “Sway In the Morning,” De La Soul’s Maseo explained that after Tommy Boy’s rights were moved over to Warner Bros. Records, potential sample infractions within the De La Soul records kept the label from making them available on streaming services. The De La Soul catalog has since been reacquired by Tommy Boy. Trugoy cited Tommy Boy head Tom Silverman’s lack of faith in the group’s seminal debut 3 Feet High and Rising as a reason why the samples were never cleared.

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“Because of the fact that Tommy Boy—Tom Silverman, in particular—didn’t think that 3 Feet High and Rising was going to do well at all,” he told Sway. “Because of that reason, they decided not to clear stuff.” The group also stated that they will only see “pennies” in royalties once the albums are put on streaming platforms. Find their full appearance below.

Pitchfork has reached out to representatives for Tommy Boy for further comment.

Read our Sunday Review of De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising.