Hip-hop trio, De La Soul is making their way to your headphones very soon! The group has confirmed that after a long battle, their music will be available on streaming services very soon.
The group’s music was not cleared to be on streaming services for decades. The cause? Complicated clearances for hundreds of samples and other legal issues. The catalog was acquired by Reservoir Media and will be distributed by its Chrysalis Records.
An announcement on Tuesday detailed the partnership. “The Reservoir and Chrysalis teams have worked with De La Soul, and their record label, AOI, to bring their music to digital streaming services. Reservoir is pleased to share that De La Soul’s first six albums, ‘3 Feet High and Rising’ (1989), ‘De La Soul Is Dead’ (1991), ‘Buhloone Mindstate’ (1993), ‘Stakes Is High’ (1996), ‘Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump’ (2000), and ‘AOI: Bionix’ (2001), will be available to fans everywhere March 3, 2023, on the 34th anniversary of the release of their debut album, ‘3 Feet High and Rising.”
“We can’t believe this day is finally here,” the group said in a statement. “We are excited to be able to share our music with fans, old and new.”
The Troubles Of Clearing Older Music
The band didn’t realize how much trouble it would’ve been to release their music in the future, during their 1989-2001 run. Back in 2016, De La Soul’s Kelvin Mercer, aka Posdnuos, explained the issue to BBC. The samples had been cleared for release in 1989, but their contracts didn’t cover digital music, and at the time, who thought streaming services would even exist? Additionally, they sampled several songs; more than 70 on 3 Feet High and Rising alone.
“Our contracts on those early albums said specifically ‘vinyl and cassette,’” he said. “The wording wasn’t vague enough to lend itself to [new] music technology.
“So once the whole age of digital music came into play, new deals needed to be cut for those entire albums.” He noted that Warner Brothers, their record label at the time, didn’t want to deal with that.
The group’s catalog will be released on March 3rd, 2023. This also falls on the 34th anniversary of 3 Feet High and Rising. Additionally, the group will be digitally releasing their hit single, The Magic Number on January 13th.