Snoop Dogg isn't a fan of traditional streaming services. "Those platforms get millions and millions and millions of streams and nobody gets paid other than the record labels," said Snoop in reference to the notoriously low royalty rates paid by platforms like Spotify & Apple Music. Now the godfather of West Coast rap is making moves to empower artists, cut out the middlemen & engage more directly with fans by utilizing the power of blockchain technology.

The adoption of NFT is embracing various industries rapidly and music is now one of them. In an interview with Drink Champs, Snoop previously said he removed all of his label's music from traditional streaming services "because those platforms don't pay." More and more singers, DJs, and bands are starting to use blockchain technology as there are clear advantages both for musicians and their fans.

Snoop Dogg's criticism is common amongst other artists when discussing streaming royalties. "Nobody in here can tell you what a stream adds up to. It's a fraction of a penny. It's a third of a penny," Snoop says. "So, you get 100 million streams, and you don't make a million dollars. So, what the f- is that? But you want me to keep giving you my music but somebody's making the money and it ain't me." Using NFT allows generating economic benefits through certain platforms independently. As intermediaries are eliminated, musicians can sell their products directly as well as communicate with their fans and audiences.

Take Snoop Dogg's 19th studio album, BODR (Bacc on Death Row), which was released for streaming, download & in the metaverse earlier this year. According to the artist, with respect to streams & downloads through traditional platforms, "In the real world, [BODR] streamed like 9 million over here, 7 million over here, and it only got like 34,000 downloads, which only added up to about nothing." However, the album reportedly made over $21 million through the metaverse; amongst other items, 25,000 NFTs, each one of the 17 songs on the album, were released through the blockchain gaming platform Gala.

But BODR was only the start of Snoop's foray into NFTs & a new way to sell & distribute music. Snoop & his label, Death Row Records, partnered with Gala Music, a new decentralized, blockchain-based music network to release exclusive tracks available only as limited-run NFTs. The supergroup Mount Westmore, consisting of Snoop and three other West Coast rap legends, Ice Cube, E40, and Too Short, also chose to release their debut album, Bad MFs, exclusively through Gala Music NFTs which rabid fans have snapped up. 

Snoop joins an exciting roster of artists on Gala Music, including the Grammy-winning Kings of Leon, the rock band behind the double-platinum album Only by the Night, and Dutch electronic music production & DJ duo Bassjackers. Gala Music boasts an NFT shopfront, a decentralized distribution network run by fans, and a player for streaming music NFTs. Unlike traditional labels & streaming services, artists on Gala Music not only benefit from revenue derived from NFT drops and streaming, but most importantly have control of & the full rights to their music.

That factor was the tipping point for Snoop Dogg. According to him, "I want to create an avenue to where I can show people how to not always have to go through the slave trade but create our own trade where we engaging with our own fans, that's my own music - that's making money off of the music and then making us money off of the music by being traded and sold."

As we approach the 29th anniversary of Snoop Dogg's seminal release, Doggystyle, lauded by many critics as one of the most important rap albums ever released, it's refreshing to see Snoop Dogg still breaking new ground in music, not just creatively, but as a trailblazer for the modern artist in fair compensation & creative control.