Who run the world? Sony.
Since rapper Jay Z launched his premium music streaming service Tidal earlier this year, the company has been plagued by an onslaught of bad press. Now, several of Tidal's co-owners, most notably Jay's wife Beyoncé, might be forced to pull their music from the platform over a streaming rights battle with record label Sony.
According to a Bloomberg Business profile, which elaborates on Tidal's shortcomings, Sony is asking for "large advances" for the rights to stream the catalogs of its artists, which include Beyoncé and other co-owners Daft Punk, Usher, and Alicia Keys. However, the article also notes that Tidal remains well funded, so it's quite possible Jay Z can cough up the asking price.
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Aside from initial knee-jerk reactions, which criticized Jay — a multi-million-dollar mogul — for complaining about musicians not making enough money, the company continued to suffer the media's wrath and skepticism. Additionally, there were misstatements about a Sprint investment that didn't exist, and the rapper's own attempt to call out Tidal's haters didn't go over swimmingly.
Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj exclusively premiered their new video for song "Feelin' Myself" on Tidal just weeks ago, which surely should have given subscriber numbers a boost. But if Tidal loses the rights to Beyoncé's music and devoted fanbase, I can only imagine Jay Z won't be feeling himself.
