Rapper Jay Z is cutting ties with Apple Music after competition against Tidal heats up. Tidal is a music streaming service owned by Jay Z and now, it seems like it's high time for the rapper turned business mogul to get exclusive rights to his own music. According to the latest news, Jay Z's music were all pulled out from Apple Music, except those with collaborations with other artists.
While it seem like a legit reason for Jay Z, fellow rapper Kanye West, who's also a stakeholder in Tidal suggests, there's more to it than plain competition. Meanwhile, Spotify through twitter also confirmed that Jay Z's whole catalogue has been removed from the service. A reason was not indicated, but it's only fair to say that Spotify is also a competitor in the music streaming line.
According to Macrumors, despite the pull out, Jay Z's music is still available on smaller streaming services such as Google Play and they are still available for purchase on iTunes. Luckily, Beyonce's songs are still available on Spotify as well as Apple Music. Apparently, Jay Z as the owner of Tidal is the first to pull out his music from competitors.
Meanwhile, the company has also listed artists like Arcade Fire, Alicia Keys, Calvin Harris, Madonna, Jack White Kanye West, Nikki Minaj, Rihanna and many more. Nevertheless, these are artists are also available on the Apple Music and has not been directed to transfer its sole licensing to Tidal.
The absence of Jay Z's songs on Spotify might have killed rumors that he had a rift with Apple Music; this is backed by the fact that his wife's songs still play on both music apps. Since December, Tidal has a record number of 3 million listeners against Apple Music with 20 million subscribers and Spotify with over 50 million subscribers.
Tidal has a monthly fee of $9.99 the same with Apple Music with an offer of $19.99 for premium subscription, said to have high fidelity sound.