dr Dre at the premiere of The Defiant Ones docuseries, 2017.
Photo: FilmMagic, Jason LaVeris. All rights reserved.
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After an open legal battle ensured that The Chronic, Dr. Dre, which had to be taken off streaming platforms in March 2022, has now returned. The legal dispute had also prevented an official re-release from being able to take place on the 30th anniversary of the original publication in December 2022. This is now to be made up for. Digital availability will be followed in April by new vinyl pressings, cassettes, CDs and merch, available for pre-order now.
“The Chronic” in the digital age
Users of streaming platforms have experienced this moment several times. In 2015, the 1992 album was first available digitally via Apple Music. Spotify only came out in April 2020. Ease of access came to an abrupt end ten months ago, however, shortly after Snoop Dogg bought the Death Row Records label.
dr Dre, real name André Young, co-founded it in 1991 and in addition to his first album, Death Row released a number of the most influential gangsta rap albums of the ’90s. Along with The Chronic, Snoop Dogg’s 1993 album Doggystyle also disappeared. In the course of the acquisition, the rapper described his plans for a virtual future for the label. It should consist of the publication of NFTs and a stronger focus on the Metaverse. This fate was then expected for the Dr. Dre album.
Complicated legal situation
However, the rights to The Chronic and its distribution have been the subject of various legal disputes for decades. The multiple sales of Death Row Records to various ownership companies over the years has further complicated the situation. The album didn’t come to Apple Music until 2015, due to a dispute over distribution rights between André Young and his former label that had been pending until at least 2011.
Young won it, securing 100 percent of all revenue from digital sources, as well as sovereign rights to decide on the types of distribution. From August this year, the master rights to the recordings will once again belong entirely to the producer. However, he has already sold them to Universal Music. Interscope Records, with whom Young has been working for a long time, is now responsible for distribution.
So the recent unavailability of The Chronic is less likely to be due to Snoop Dogg’s plans for a blockchain-based future for the music industry and more to its very real, contractually complicated past. Now, a milestone in West Coast hip-hop and the musical launch of a great career is more accessible than ever, and for the moment at least, there are no visible limitations on the horizon.
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