Last night, Reservoir and Chrysalis Records took home the Marketing Superstar Award at the 2024 Bizzy Awards, hosted by Music Biz, for their campaign to bring De La Soul‘s back catalog to streaming services for the first time ever in 2023. The Marketing Superstar Award recognizes a marketing campaign that was innovative and thought-provoking across any sector of the industry.

New York-based hip-hop trio De La Soul initially released their seminal album 3 Feet High and Rising on March 3, 1989. Due to numerous label changes and the laborious task of sample clearances, the group’s first six albums, released between 1989-2001, were unavailable on DSPs. The Reservoir and Chrysalis teams worked for 18 months to clear the samples and prepare the music for streaming.

From January 2023 through March and beyond, the Reservoir and Chrysalis team leveraged partnerships with the DSPs to execute a creative marketing campaign. On January 3, 2023, De La kicked off the campaign by announcing their catalog would be released on March 3rd, 34 years after the original release of 3 Feet High and Rising. The announcement included a new website, merch drop, physical pre-orders, and TikTok account with featured content, garnering worldwide press and fan attention, with De La Soul trending on Twitter. The announcement also featured an Amazon Times Square billboard, prompting fans, “Ask Alexa What The Magic Number Is,” generating the response, “Three is the magic number,” as well as Spotify’s “The De Is Finally Here” campaign and Apple Music’s ATMOS download pre-orders. On January 13, De La digitally released “The Magic Number” alongside an animated music video inspired by the Schoolhouse Rock songs sampled. Throughout the campaign, the group made key appearances on The Tonight Show, Sway in the Morning on Sirius, and NORE’s Drink Champs podcast, as well as a performance during the Grammy’s Hip Hop 50 featured segment.

For the release in March, Reservoir and Chrysalis partnered with Amazon on a live-streamed release party in NYC that became a moving tribute to the group’s late member, Dave, featuring appearances and performances by many hip-hop legends. De La Soul’s massive industry support included six billboards in Times Square on March 3, coordinated by the team and various partners. Beyond March, the rollout featured merch drops, physical album releases, weekly video launches, and stand-alone singles driving catalog consumption, culminating with the anticipated “Buddy (Native Tongue Decision)” remix in August 2023. Buhloone Mindstate 30th anniversary edition was released digitally with bonus audio/video content, and a 7” Box Set of 3 Feet High and Rising was released for Record Store Day.

As a result of the campaign, all six albums from De La Soul’s back catalog took the top spots in Catalog Digital Albums in the U.S. 3 Feet High and Rising debuted at #1 on Top Catalog Vinyl Albums, #1 on Tastemaker Albums, #2 on Catalog Albums, #3 on Independent Albums, #8 on R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, and #15 on the Top 200. The album also landed at #12 on the Top 100 Albums in the UK. Additionally, the hit track “Me Myself and I” landed at #6 on R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Songs and #13 on Digital Songs Sales, with “A Roller Skating Jam Named “Saturdays”” reaching #22 on R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Songs. De La Soul racked up 26 million streams in week one across the six albums.

With an innovative, multifaceted campaign, Reservoir and Chrysalis helped champion De La Soul’s classic catalog, enabling the group to finally be able to share their music digitally, while simultaneously satisfying fans who have anxiously awaited this music for years and introducing a new generation to these pioneers of hip-hop.