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Kanye West & JAY-Z Threaten Legal Battle Over TIDAL

Kanye West & JAY-Z Threaten Legal Battle Over TIDAL

Kanye West & JAY-Z Threaten Legal Battle Over TIDAL
  • Genre : Pop
  • Type: News
  • Author : Super Admin
  • Date : Wed, 05 Jul 2017
Rap rivalries are as an integral part of of the hip hop landscape as the music itself — the history of the scene is propped up with beefs, throw-downs, and during a dark period, violence. These days the kind of fight is somewhat more litigious, and a little less street, and a lot more corporate.

It's been understood for some time now that since their collaborative effort Watch The Throne, Kanye West and JAY-Z no longer get along. On his recent album 4:44, JAY-Z shared his current thoughts on West, rapping, "You lost your principles."

Now, it seems that West and TIDAL have also fallen foul of a happy working relationship.

According to a report on TMZ, Kanye is threatening legal action against JAY-Z's "artist-owned" streaming service. The rapper claims that the service is in breach of contract. According to the report West's case is two-fold. His latest album, Life of Pablo, resulted in 1.5 million new subscribers to TIDAL, for which he was supposed to receive a bonus, but the company hasn't paid out. He also claims that the company hasn't reimbursed him for music videos.

p>However, according to TMZ sources, TIDAL alleges that it's West who is in breach of contract, saying that he hasn't delivered all of the videos required by their contract. West, they claim, says he'll only deliver the videos when he's paid.

For some time now West has been less than a loyal endorser of TIDAL. In its first few weeks the service began losing subscribers, and he publicly disavowed the company by deleting all of his previous Tweets which supported the company. After promising that 2016's Life of Pablo would only be available on TIDAL, it soon appeared on Spotify, Apple Music and the rapper's own website. West has also cited "TIDAL-Apple bull***" as a factor in he and JAY-Z's falling out.

Apparently TIDAL maintains that they have an exclusive contract with West, and claims that they'll sue him if he works with another streaming service.

So — with all of this ego, and money involved we're expecting this legal play to take some time to settle. It will, of course, set an interesting precedent for the freedoms of artists who sign bespoke contracts with streaming services — in an industry that continues to seek for stability.

ARTISTdirect will keep you up to date on all future developments. In the meantime, let's watch the clip below and think of happier, less contentious days.

—The ARTISTdirect Staff
07.05.17

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