Jay-Z may be the founder of Tidal, but it seems that he still cares more about streaming numbers than he does about long-term exclusives for this streaming company. At least, that’s the big takeaway from the fact that his joint album with wife Beyoncé is already available on Apple Music.
The album, titled Everything is Love, debuted on Tidal as a very short-lived exclusive over the weekend. Along with Apple Music, the new album is also available on iTunes, Spotify’s premium tier, Google Play, Amazon Music, and more.
Ironically, in the album Beyoncé raps about how, “My success can’t be quantified / If I gave two f***s about streaming numbers, would’ve put (previous album) Lemonade up on Spotify.”
Not exactly riding a Tidal wave
Despite its artist-centric concept sounding like a good selling point early on, Tidal has never been the success many hoped for. 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. A recent report suggested it is months behind on royalty payments.
At one point, Apple was 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, meanwhile, it noted that it has around 75 million paying customers and a massive 170 million monthly total active users.
Recently, early Tidal artist and Jay-Z collaborator Kanye West eschewed Tidal for the launch of his new album Ye, instead choosing to make it available on Apple Music and other platforms right away. Kanye reportedly parted ways with Tidal last July over money issues.
Source: Vulture
