Snoop Dogg is bringing Death Row Records catalog back to streaming services… and TikTok has got it exclusively for the first week – Music Business Worldwide

TikTok has partnered with Snoop Dogg and Death Row Records to bring the iconic record label’s catalog to TikTok through its independent distribution platform, SoundOn.

According to TikTok, starting this past Sunday (February 12), and continuing for the rest of the week, the Death Row catalog is available to stream exclusively on TikTok.

TikTok says that users will find Death Row’s music in its music hub, available to use in their videos, “in advance of its wider release next week”.

The platform also notes that the new partnership between Death Row and TikTok “marks the label’s first official online release since its removal from streaming services in early 2022, and the first-ever catalog reissue to release exclusively through SoundOn”.

Founded in 1991 in Los Angeles, California, Death Row Records quickly became one of hip-hop’s most prominent and influential labels.

The label produced and distributed legendary albums including Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle, and 2Pac’s All Eyez On Me.

Last year, Snoop Dogg acquired the Death Row brand from MNRK Music Group and subsequently completed a deal to buy the label’s recordings catalog.

The artist then removed the Death Row catalog from streaming services.

“I reached out to the folks at TikTok to make more history…enjoy ya’ll.”

Snoop Dogg

In a statement issued on Tuesday (February 14), Snoop Dogg said: “Since I took Death Row off streaming almost a year ago, not a day goes by without people asking me to put it back up.

“As the Super Bowl rolled around, I knew fans would be looking for the music from our iconic performance in 2022, so I wanted to reintroduce the most historic catalog to the people. I reached out to the folks at TikTok to make more history…enjoy ya’ll.”

TikTok’s independent distribution platform SoundOn launched in March last year and was initially available in the UK, US, Brazil and Indonesia.

The distro service also rolled out in Australia, last week just days after news arrived that the platform has been limiting access to major label music in the market as part of a test with a subset of users.

TikTok confirmed to MBW last year that digital distribution platform TuneCore, owned by rival to the major record companies, Believe, was picked as its distribution partner for SoundOn.

In short, this means that artists who upload their music to TikTok SoundOn have that music distributed to other platforms (Spotify, Apple Music etc.) via Believe-owned TuneCore.

TikTok’s SoundOn platform pays out 100% royalties to music creators in the first year and 90% after that, with a range of promotional tools and support available.

According to SoundOn’s FAQs, artists will be able to “obtain 100% royalty for an unlimited time” for in-Bytedance platforms including TikTok and Resso.

TikTok says that its creators can now choose from a host of classic Death Row recordings, including songs from multi-Platinum-selling albums like Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle and The Doggfather, The Dogg Pound’s Dogg Food, and the Above The Rim soundtrack, plus tracks from artists like 2Pac, Nate Dogg, Kurupt, The Lady Of Rage, and more.

To celebrate the new exclusive addition of the catalog, TikTok and Death Row curated the Death Row’s Greatest Hits playlist, featuring tracks from Snoop, Dre, 2Pac, and more, and created the new What Dogg Are You? TikTok filter.

Using Snoop’s song Who Am I? (What’s My Name) and inspired by the classic music video, the new filter uses AR technology to transform creators into the breed that best represents them.Music Business Worldwide