Mike Wuerthele
In the wake of reports of Kanye West complaining that Tidal owes him millions, sources claim that Jay-Z's confessional album "4:44" will see release on Apple Music around July 8.
A source confirmed to Billboard that 4:44 will be added to Apple Music and iTunes after only a one week exclusivity on Tidal. A physical release will reportedly follow, but no timetable is known for that.
At about the same time, reports started circulating that Kanye West has apparently jumped ship on his deal with Tidal. According to TMZ West claims that Tidal is in breach of contract, and owes him $3 million. Tidal has also allegedly threatened to sue West.
In January, mobile carrier Sprint purchased 33 percent of Tidal, with terms of the deal not known. At present, Jay-Z's 4:44 can be listened to by long-time Tidal subscribers, or new Tidal subscribers who also have Sprint service.
When Jay-Z relaunched Tidal in 2016, he divvied up minor ownership rights to big-name artists like West, Beyonc, Daft Punk, Alicia Keys, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Chris Martin, Rihanna, Usher, Jack White and others. A number of minority owners have since released albums on the service as windowed exclusives, including West, who begged fans to subscribe after the debut of his last album, "Life of Pablo."
Around the time of Sprint's investment in Tidal, a report noted that Apple Music provides 13.35 percent of all streaming revenue, with 7.18 percent of the streaming quantity. At the same Time, tidal held 0.33 percent of streaming revenue, and 0.1 percent of the total streams.
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23 Comments
Kanye West and Jay-Z in a lawsuit is where both of these egomaniacal dummies need to be. Let them destroy each other and let actual musicians fill the gap.
Jay-Z is no longer exclusive and Kanye is owed millions means this is like that scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom where the heart has been pulled out of the Tidal and may still be beating, but they're dead.
I don't see where Tidal has any way of surviving. Who really uses this service? They can do all this exclusivity crap they want...its not going to make people just move over for the long haul. These supposed big names aren't gonna make people subscribe. I kinda think these 2 don't have a freaking clue as to what they're doing with Tidal.