“The same day that [Tidal owner] Jay-Z[‘s] album ‘4:44’ exits Tidal exclusivity, heavy Tidal promoter Kanye West has reportedly cut all ties to the streaming service,” Mike Wuerthele reports for AppleInsider. “After initial indications suggesting that 4:44 would remain a Tidal exclusive, the Platinum-certified album has popped up on Amazon Music, and Apple Music — but not on Spotify as of yet.”
“Platinum records are those albums associated with one million ‘album units,’ according to the RIAA. One album purchase, 10 tracks purchased off an album, or 1500 streams of a track on services like Tidal or Apple Music equal one album unit,” Wuerthele reports. “However, the status was gained by Sprint’s purchase of one million copies of the album according to Billboard, to give away to subscribers. The status was awarded on Sprint’s purchase, and not by listener streams.”
Wuerthele reports, “Also on Friday, high profile artist Kanye West has split with Tidal.”
Read more in the full article here.
Andy Gensler reports for Billboard, “A source close to Kanye West [one of Tidal’s initial 16 artist-owners] has confirmed that Tidal’s exclusivity rights have been terminated based on what is alleged to be Tidal’s failure to honor its financial obligations.”
“According to a report that originally appeared on TMZ, West claimed that Tidal owes him ‘“more than $3 million’ after his album The Life of Pablo allegedly ‘resulted in 1.5 million new subscribers to Tidal, for which he was supposed to get a bonus but the company hasn’t paid,'” Gensler reports. “The report also claimed Tidal failed to compensate Kanye for his music videos.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple Music roadkill cling to truck that flattened them.
SEE ALSO:
Jay Z’s Tidal music service loses its third CEO in two years – May 26, 2017
Sprint buys stake in Tidal Music Service – January 23, 2017
Kanye West tries to goad Apple CEO Tim Cook to buy Tidal – August 1, 2016
Kanye West calls for Apple to buy Tidal, demands executive meeting – July 31, 2016
Apple buying Tidal would be a very savvy move – July 1, 2016
Why the heck would Apple want to buy Jay Z’s Tidal? – July 1, 2016
Why Apple buying Jay Z’s Tidal makes sense – and why it doesn’t – July 1, 2016
Desperate Spotify tries to manufacture an Apple App Store antitrust issue that does not exist – July 1, 2016
Spotify accuses Apple of ‘grave harm’ – July 1, 2016
Apple in talks to acquire Jay Z’s Tidal music service – June 30, 2016