Death Row Pictures, the newly-formed film production unit of Snoop Dogg-owned Death Row Records, is launching a production music unit called Death Row Pro.
The new venture will serve as a production music arm of Death Row Records, for licensing newly created music for TV, film, ads etc.
Death Row Pictures has partnered with Extreme Music, the production music arm of Sony Music Publishing, to create Death Row Pro.
According to Death Row, the new venture “will focus on bringing the iconic sound of Death Row to professional music users” and aims to deliver a mix of unheard tracks from the Death Row “vaults” as well as newly created West Coast-centric Hip-Hop “fueled by the iconic Death Row DNA”.
The first releases of Death Row Pro are anticipated to drop in January 2024.
Launched in 1997, Extreme Music has offices in Berlin, Stockholm, Sydney, New York and Los Angeles. The company is headquartered in London.
Extreme’s roster includes Quincy Jones, Hans Zimmer, Sir George Martin, Snoop Dogg, Two Steps from Hell, Labrinth and many more.
The company was founded by Russell Emanuel in 1997 and then acquired by Sony Music Publishing in 2008.
In 2020 Sony Music Publishing (then Sony/ATV) centralized its two production music divisions – Extreme Music and EMI Production Music – as one global operation and named Russell Emanuel as its President & CEO.
News of the launch of Death Row Pro arrives just a day after former UMG exec Kat MacLean Daley was appointed by Snoop Dogg as VP & Head of Publishing at Death Row Records, which he acquired last year.
MacLean Daley reports directly to Snoop Dogg and is responsible for the company’s day-to-day operations in music, with her primary focus on the company’s newly established publishing business.
Death Row noted in yesterday’s announcement that Kat MacLean Daley was “instrumental in setting sampling standards outside of the US and in new genres including country music”.
“Kat’s already a legend in the world of clearances and publishing, and her drive and discipline was what I wanted to bring to Death Row,” said Snoop Dogg on Monday (December 11).
“It’s an honor to partner with Extreme Music on the DEATH ROW PRO series.”
Snoop Dogg
“It’s an honor to partner with Extreme Music on the DEATH ROW PRO series. 👊🏾🎬🎶🎥” said Snoop Dogg, owner and CEO of Death Row.
“We are super excited to be bring the sonic horsepower of Death Row to music supervisors.”
Russell Emanuel, CEO Extreme Music
Russell Emanuel, CEO Extreme Music added: “Extreme sets itself apart by striving for authenticity and when it comes to Hip-Hop, there is nothing more authentic than Death Row.
“We are super excited to be bring the sonic horsepower of Death Row to music supervisors.”
Established in 1991, Death Row Records claims to have introduced an entirely new sound to the Hip-Hop genre and brought West Coast gangster rap to the world stage with legendary hits including Nuthin But A ‘G’ Thang and Let Me Ride, and iconic albums like Dr. Dre’s The Chronic and Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle.
Last year, Snoop Dogg acquired the Death Row brand from MNRK Music Group and subsequently completed a deal to buy the label’s recordings catalog.
He then removed the Death Row catalog from streaming services.
In February, TikTok partnered with Snoop Dogg and Death Row Records to bring the record label’s catalog to the ByteDance-owned app through its independent distribution platform, SoundOn, making the catalog available to stream exclusively on TikTok for a week. In March, the Death Row Records catalog officially returned to music streaming services.
The return of the catalog to streaming services arrived in the same week it emerged that, amongst a slate of deals struck by gamma – the new $1 billion-backed company from former Apple Music Global Creative Director Larry Jackson – was a partnership with Snoop Dogg and the Death Row catalog.Music Business Worldwide
