Members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike May 2. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG–AFTRA) joined on July 14. Now, Snoop Dogg is weighing in on the labor dispute over residuals from streaming services and other concerns.
As reported by Deadline, Snoop Dogg discussed the so-called “Hollywood Double Strike” at an event hosted by the Milken Institute. The Baby Boy actor called out the streaming platforms over their payouts to creators.
“The streaming gotta get their s### together because I don’t understand how the f### you get paid off of that s###,” Snoop Dogg reportedly said. “I mean, can someone explain to me how you can get a billion streams and not get a million dollars? That s### don’t make sense to me.”
He also added, “If you sold a million copies, that means 999, $9 million, you get this percentage, that’s what it is. So if I sell how many streams, how much money do I get? It’s not being translated and it’s not working for the artist right now.”
Snoop Dogg Says Music Acts Need To Follow WGA Writers’ Lead
Conversations about music streaming companies not properly paying artists for their work have been taking place for years. In 2014, Aloe Blacc scolded streamers after only making $4,000 on a song that collected over 168 million domestic streams.
“We need to figure that out the same way the writers are figuring it out—the writers are striking because [of] streaming, they can’t get paid,” Snoop Dogg said. “Because when it’s on the [streaming] platform, it’s not like in the box office.”
The Emmy Award winner added, “In the box office, if it does all these numbers you make it up, ‘Oh, it did this many, here’s another check.’ But on streaming, you got 300,000 hours that somebody watched your movie, where’s the money?”