In a viral outburst, Snoop Dogg deviates from the script on streaming platform compensation, asking, 'Can someone explain to me how you can receive a billion streams and not get a million dollars?'

Markeaus Turner 05/09/2023

Snoop Dogg ripped out music CEOs at a business conference in an off-script moment, criticizing the poor digital music streaming payout system while offering support to striking TV workers.

Calvin Broadus, the rapper, was speaking on a panel discussing music and artificial intelligence when he went off on a tangent. Larry Jackson, Apple's former music creative director, was interviewed and questioned why music-streaming services paid musicians so little, adding that TV program writers deserved better as well.

"I know I'm going off-script right now, but fuck it. This is business," Snoop remarked on May 3 at the 2023 Milken Institute Global Conference. "In a room full of business people and somebody may hear this so the next artist doesn't have to struggle and cry for his money because some of these artists are streaming millions and millions and millions of fucking streams and they don't got no millions of dollars in their pockets."

Snoop, who garnered praise and shouts, then addressed the audience directly.

"I don't know who the fuck is running the streaming industry if you in here or not? But you need to give us some information on how to fucking track this money down," he said amid some audience laughs. "Because one plus one ain't adding up to two."


According to Billboard, musicians earn around $0.16 for every $1 from streaming a song. This figure is determined by the contracts that record companies negotiate with streaming services, and larger artists can negotiate a greater percentage.

However, getting money via streaming is tough, especially for lesser musicians who claim they cannot support themselves financially through it. Spotify, for example, pays between $.003 and $.005 per stream.

Snoop utilized this argument to express his support for television writers. Around 10,000 authors in the Authors Guild of America went on strike on Tuesday to seek higher compensation since royalties had practically vanished due to streaming.

"I mean, can someone explain to me how you can get a billion streams and not get a million dollars?" Snoop said.


Snoop reminded the crowd that rather than vague streaming standards, box-office sales were a clearer criterion to get compensated by. "It's not working for the artist right now and I just want to speak to that. That's fucked up," he said. "The writers are striking because with streaming, they can't get paid."

Snoop Dogg and the Milken Institute did not immediately reply to Insider's requests for comment. Insider requested feedback from Spotify and Apple Music.

Dreem Agency