Hov is about his business, and his latest move proves he’ll do whatever it takes to keep Tidal going. Jay Z removed his solo work from the streaming platform Spotify, leaving only songs he’s done in collaboration with other artists. This comes after removing both his debut, ‘Reasonable Doubt‘, as well as the, ‘Blueprint‘ series from everywhere except Tidal, making those albums essentially exclusives to the service. He’s cornering the market on himself, his music, and his streaming service. Along with two dozen other artists, Jay Z owns the only artist controlled music platform that has been able to seriously rival the major music streaming/distribution services. Pulling his music from another streaming service is an aggressive but necessary step for Jay Z to take in order to further legitimize Tidal and attract as many potential customers and partners as possible.
2017 isn’t even halfway over but Tidal has been making some serious moves; back in January Sprint agreed to purchase a third of the streaming platform for $200 Million. The deal provides a way for the artist owners to deliver exclusive content to Sprint users on top of further stabilizing the company financial. Jay Z is essentially changing the rules of the music industry, and he’s created a platform where some of the biggest names in the game are backing him up. Artist owners include Rihanna, Beyonce, Kanye, Daft Punk, T.I., Coldplay, and about 18 others. Beyonce’s last album, Lemonade, is a Tidal streaming exclusive, which is a move that ma artists have since followed. So even if an artist isn’t signed to Tidal, they’re following a precedent that they set in this new streaming era; artists taking back control of the way their music is handled.
