Jay-Z’s Tidal streaming music service was set up to make sure sure artists benefitted from the next big shift in music distribution. However, according to a new report it may have defaulted on that mission — since it’s now months behind on payments to labels.
Specifically, the Apple Music rival is supposedly lagging when it comes to paying three international record companies, and in some cases has not made royalty payments in more than six months.
As a result, there is talk of some labels withdrawing their music from the service.
Less users, mo problems
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about Tidal running into problems. Virtually since launch it has been grappling with one issue or another. It has been through three CEOs in two years, and has reportedly experienced a disappointing lack of growth. Last year, Tidal supposedly lost $44 million before taxes, and is running out of money rapidly.
Apple was once rumored to be considering an acquisition of Tidal, although this never amounted to anything. Recently, Tim Cook announced that Apple Music has surpassed 50 million users.
In Spotify’s recent first ever earnings report as a public company, it noted that it has around 75 million paying customers and a massive 170 million monthly total active users — although it has yet to turn a profit.
Source: Dagens Næringsliv
