Already dealing with rumors swirling that protégé Kanye West could take his forthcoming album and jump ship for Apple Music, Jay Z may have to deal with another member of his inner circle releasing new music outside of his Tidal streaming service.
Reports indicate Beyoncé’s label, Sony Music, may soon pull her music from the music platform.
Yahoo reports:
Sources say that both Sony and Warner have been asking Tidal for huge advances in exchange for the rights to stream their artists’ catalogs. While Tidal has apparently come to an agreement with Warner, it seems the Sony deal isn’t done yet — and if Tidal can’t find the cash to pay its requested royalties, it could lose the music of Beyoncé, who just happens to be one of Tidal’s flagship artists along with being Jay Z’s wife.
Needless to say, as one of the listed owners of Tidal, if music industry politics prevent Queen Bey from having her music on her own platform, it won’t bode well for Tidal as it continues to try to make an impact amongst competitors such as Google, Pandora, and Spotify, all of whom have access to her music.
Also in jeopardy with this news is the speculated joint album between Beyoncé and Jay Z that was to be exclusively released on Tidal. One has to wonder if the powers that be are intentionally making it difficult for these artists to control their own music. Maybe Jay’s claims of a smear campaign against Tidal isn’t so far fetched after all.
Other Sony Music artists that stand to have their music pulled from Tidal include Adele, A$AP Rocky, Chris Brown, Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, Miley Cyrus, One Direction, Outkast, Pharrell Williams, Snoop Dogg, and Tinashe.
