Tidal’s salty dispute
After a lengthy financial dispute between Kanye West and Jay-Z over the streaming service Tidal, Kanye West has decided to leave Tidal.
It was 2014 when Jay-Z took to the stage to announce he would be launching a new streaming service named Tidal. During this press conference, Jay-Z stood beside several notable figures in the music industry, citing them all as “owners of Tidal”. Among these artists were Beyonce, Rihanna, Kanye West, Daft Punk and more.
When comparing Tidal to other streaming services, such as Spotify, Jay-Z aimed to use the exclusivity of the platform to attract new users. To date, Rihanna, Beyonce and Daft Punk have already released exclusive music to the streaming service. Most recently, Jay-Z released his fourteenth studio album exclusively to Tidal.
Despite all this exclusivity, and support from major musicians, Tidal has struggled to attract the level of viewers other streaming services have achieved. Adding insult to injury, it looks like Tidal has lost one its biggest artists due to a financial dispute.
Kanye West claimed his contract was breached and has a team of lawyers investigating the terms and conditions of this deal. The American musician claims Tidal owes him a grand total of $4.5 million: $3 million in compensation for music videos and an additional $1.5 million for new subscribers accumulated after the 2016 release of The Life of Pablo. After a bitter financial dispute between two long-time friends, Kanye West has stepped away from Tidal.