Dr. Dre's 'The Chronic' to Be Streamed for the First Time on Apple Music
Apple Music has secured another major record, one day ahead of launch, Apple confirmed to Billboard today (Jun. 29).
Dr. Dre’s The Chronic was released 23 years ago, in June, 1992. Since then, the rap legend’s most revered piece of work has been streamed exactly zero times, withheld from Spotify et al. (His album 2001, released in 1999, is available on other services such as Spotify, due to parent company Universal Music Group’s licensing deals with those companies.) The album has sold 5.7 million to date in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music.
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Dre secured the digital rights to his album four years ago, following a court case against the “reincarnated” Death Row, which Dre originally founded alongside Suge Knight, before Dre exited in 1996, pivoting to Interscope, then being run by his future Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine.
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Dre and Iovine sold their headphone and streaming music company Beats last year to Apple for $3 billion. The service Iovine and Dre created there, Beats Music, formed the bedrock of Apple’s new streaming service.
The news comes on the heels of another high-profile get for Apple: Taylor Swift’s 1989, which the star tweeted last week would be allowed on Apple Music. As well, Pharrell is expected to debut an exclusive song on the service on launch day.
