(Head here for more on the long legal back-and-forth.) The music of “The Magic Number” is based around a sample from “Three Is a Magic Number,” written by the late Bob Dorough and featured in the 1970s educational TV series “Schoolhouse Rock.”īut when Reservoir acquired the Tommy Boy catalog - including “Three Feet High” and other De La Soul albums - for $100 million last year, they promised to work with the group to “bring the catalog and the music back to the fans” in August the group said iy hoped the music would be posted by November, and its website currently says, “Stay tuned, catalog coming soon.”Ĭlearly, something has moved forward legally, since the song would have to be licensed to be used in the film, let alone so prominently reps for the film and the group did not immediately respond to Variety’s request for comment. Yet it was made during the dawn of the sample age, and to their considerable detriment, the group ended up being guinea pigs for the creation of laws around them - not only did the ensuing legal battles rack up untold thousands in lawyer fees and effectively sideline the group’s career, their music has never legally been available on streaming services. 24 on the Billboard 200 albums chart) and is universally recognized as one of the best and most influential albums in hip-hop history. 1 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop chart (and No.
De La Soul’s galvanizing 1989 debut album, “Three Feet High and Rising,” was one of the truly groundbreaking albums in hip-hop history, both in terms of its overall theme and the happy, psychedelic vibe it brought to a genre that had largely been musically and lyrically aggressive and/or self-aggrandizing up to that point. So what’s the problem? In a word: samples. “A whole new generation as disappointed as the rest of us have been about this…” “My son, a Spider-Man fan, has discovered that ‘The Magic Number’ by De La Soul is not on Spotify,” one wrote. We’re still working through it, but aren’t at a place where we can share anything yet.”Īs noted in an article on, there has been no shortage of outrage online, particularly on TikTok, about the song’s unavailability (although unofficial versions can be found on YouTube).
DE LA SOUL MAGIC NUMBER UPDATE
While the appearance of “The Magic Number” on Spider-Man’s soundtrack could be a promising sign that at least the work has begun (the song mainly samples Bob Dorough’s “Three Is a Magic Number”), all those new fans will have to join the grizzled vets in waiting impatiently for that work to be completed to stream De La’s greatest hits.Reservoir Music, which last year acquired the catalog of Tommy Boy Records, the group’s original label, pledged that the music will be “coming to fans” - but in a statement to Variety on Friday, a rep for the company wrote: “Unfortunately, no update on the status of De La Soul coming to streaming. Earlier this year, De La Soul apparently won back their master recordings after Reservoir Media acquired Tommy Boy for around $100 million, but now comes the nitty-gritty work of actually clearing all those samples, which could take some time considering the age of the records and the labyrinthine nature of copyright law. The band themselves have offered to take on the intricate work of clearing all the samples backed by an army of volunteers who just want to be able to stream the albums they love, only to get rebutted by Tommy Boy. With the advent of streaming, the label considers the albums open to a plethora of potential lawsuits and not worth the hassle of uploading. Al final de la letra podrás puntuar su calidad, comentar sobre ella, acceder a más canciones de De La Soul y a música relacionada. While Tommy Boy cleared most of those samples, the contracts only covered physical releases, the only method for releasing music through the ’80s and ’90s. La canción The Magic Number se estrenó el 3 de marzo de 1989.Este tema está incluido dentro del disco 3 Feet High and Rising. The trouble with streaming the albums stems from their extensive sample use over the course of their six projects under Tommy Boy, the band used hundreds of samples of prior works - 3 Feet High And Rising contains 60 samples by itself.
The crew’s 3 Feet High And Rising song “The Magic Number” appears over the end credits of Spider-Man: No Way Home, undoubtedly sending many of the film’s viewers to Apple Music, Spotify, and Tidal only to discover that the only two De La Soul albums available are The Grind Date and The Anonymous Nobody.Īnd while both albums are worth several spins, most of De La’s most recognizable work comes from earlier in their career, when they were still under contract with Tommy Boy Entertainment.
DE LA SOUL MAGIC NUMBER MOVIE
De La Soul‘s streaming woes are well-documented at this point, but now that the crew has landed a soundtrack placement on the biggest movie of the year, new fans are finding themselves frustrated to learn that the pioneer trio’s catalog is unavailable on DSP.