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De La Soul confirm deal with Reservoir will get their Tommy Boy albums streaming
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 11 August 2021
De La Soul have confirmed that they have reached a deal with the new owners of their former label Tommy Boy which will result in the outfit’s first six albums finally becoming available on the streaming services.
The legendary hip hop trio went public in 2019 about their negotiations with Tommy Boy and its founder Tom Silverman regarding getting the six De La Soul albums released by the label streaming. They said that they could not accept the terms being offered by Silverman and that they were therefore ending all talks with the label. And, indeed, all efforts to get those albums streaming did seemingly stop there.
However, back in June, Tommy Boy was acquired by music rights firm Reservoir, leading to speculation that talks with De La Soul might now resume. Then, last weekend, rapper Talib Kweli said on Instagram that De La Soul were back in control of their masters, citing the group’s Maseo as the source of that information.
And yesterday we got confirmation from De La Soul directly that a deal has indeed been done with Reservoir. Speaking on Instagram, the group’s Trugoy confirmed: “We have finally come down to a deal between ourselves and Reservoir Media to release our music in 2021. So our catalogues will be released this year – we’re trying to work hard and diligently along with the good folks up at Reservoir to get this done”.
On the negotiations that have occurred since Reservoir’s Tommy Boy acquisition, he added: “We sat down and we got it done pretty quick actually – it was kind of impressive how fast we got it done – maybe in two weeks time tops. [It was] a totally different approach than what was happening with Tommy Boy. And I’m not speaking to bash Tom Silverman or Tommy Boy in any way. But we’re happy that that chapter is over and done with and we are looking forward to our relationship with Reservoir Media”.
Reservoir then also confirmed that a deal has been done, telling Billboard: “We have reached a new long-term agreement with De La Soul that gives the group a new voice and interest in how their historic catalogue will be distributed. Reservoir couldn’t be happier to come to an agreement with De La Soul, one of the most important groups in the history of hip-hop, and it’s an honour to partner with them and make these classic albums available to the fans after all this time”.
Needless to say, details of the deal are not known, though, I guess, knowing that these seminal albums will finally be available to stream is really all we need to know.
