Hollywood strike: Snoop Dogg wants artists to get fair share - 'Where is the money?'

With the Writers Guild of America going on strike over the fee structure and monetary compensation the members get for their service, hip-hop legend Snoop Dogg weighed in on the issue and called the whole system “fu**** up”. He said, “[Artists] need to figure it out the same way the writers are figuring it out. The writers are striking because [of] streaming, they can’t get paid. Because when it’s on the platform, it’s not like in the box office.”

Snoop Dogg spoke on the issue during a discussion with co-panellist Larry Jackson, who is also his business partner, and Variety’s executive music editor Shirley Halperin.

Explained | Hollywood strike - What the writers want

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The rapper added, “I don’t understand how the f*** you get paid off of that s***. Somebody explain to me how you can get a billion streams and not get a million dollars?… That’s the main gripe with a lot of us artists that we do major numbers… but it doesn't add up to the money. Like where the f*** is the money?”

During the discussion, Snoop Dogg and Larry Jackson spoke about the launch of the latter’s Gamma business. Gamma’s partnership with Snoop involves the exclusive rights to market and distribute the Death Row Records catalogue.

“Snoop could’ve gone to any three of [the major labels]… but [he] would be getting paid on a biannual basis. But now [that Gamma] has the… financial analytics dashboard, we’re paying Snoop once a month,” Jackson said.

“There are certain artists that are coming to our distribution company and getting paid once a week — you gotta understand how revolutionary this is, this doesn’t exist in the music business like this.”

On the issue of artificial intelligence and music, Jackson said there “are a lot of useful ways to leverage it,” like the “predictive data insights” that inform users how much artists generate hourly.

Meanwhile, Snoop Dogg also spoke about his acting roles, including Amazon’s upcoming sports comedy film The Underdoggs and his upcoming biopic with Universal Pictures.

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