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The group De La Soul will soon have their back catalogue available on streaming services, following years of delays and copyright issues. Due to go live on 3rd March 2023, the first six albums from the American trio will become available across digital platforms. The group will also be releasing their popular track The Magic Number as a digital download on 13th January.
Because De La Soul use a lot of samples in their music, the issues have arisen due to the fact that streaming services and the rules surrounding them have been incredibly slow to figure out a number of factors: firstly, the music of De La Soul pre-dates digital streaming services by decades – the group formed in the 1980s, and so nobody could foresee the change in the industry and how it would affect groups moving their licensing agreements from physical to digital copies.
Secondly, the ways in which large numbers of samples are cleared for use by other artists is admin-heavy and time consuming, and it does appear as though record labels have to put aside the effort to properly care about completing this process anew for digital processes.
Finally, streaming services notoriously believe that artists and songwriters should get the smallest share of streaming revenue while distributors should take the lion’s share – see the #FixStreaming campaign which outlines that the industry is still working in real-time on how rights and payments should work in the digital age. All of these elements have created a perfect storm that has led to years of De La Soul being unable to publish their music online.
In sound and music, sampling is the reuse of a portion of a sound recording in another recording. Samples may comprise elements such as rhythm, melody, speech, sounds or entire bars of music, and may be layered, equalized, sped up or slowed down, re-pitched, looped, or otherwise manipulated.
The upcoming availability of De La Soul’s first six albums is thanks to Reservoir Media buying the group’s master recordings and putting in the time to update the group’s music, finally bringing them into the digital age. After years of struggles that saw a period of giving away music for free in 2014, the lack of a digital presence was recently highlighted after The Magic Number was used at the end of the 2021 film Spiderman: No Way Home. The band shared their excitement about making their long-awaited digital debut in a statement that read:
“We can’t believe this day is finally here, and we are excited to be able to share our music with fans, old and new.”
The six albums that will be available from 3rd March are:
In addition to the new streaming announcement, lucky UK fans of De La Soul can enjoy live performances this spring, with the group playing at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 8th April before heading to Glasgow, Nottingham and Manchester on their rescheduled dates from November 2022.
De La Soul is made up of Posdnuos (Kelvin Mercer), Trugoy (David Jude Jolicoeur), and Maseo (Vincent Lamont Mason Jr.) One of the most artistic and creative hip-hop acts ever, this trio from Long Island have had an unquestionable influence since their debut in 1987. As well as hits from their legendary album ‘3 Feet High and Rising’ including ‘The Magic Number’, ‘Say No Go’ and ‘Me Myself and I’, their recent releases have included a collaboration with Gorillaz, ‘Feel Good Inc’, which reached no 2 in the UK singles charts.
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Michelle is a musician and composer from the UK. She has performed across the UK and Europe and is passionate about arts education and opportunities for women and girls.
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