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It looks like the rift between Kanye West and JAY-Z is growing wider. A source close to Kanye West confirmed that their party has terminated Tidal’s exclusivity rights to his music based on the streaming service’s alleged failure to honor its financial obligations. According to a report that appeared on TMZ, Tidal owes him “more than $3 million” after his album The Life of Pablo allegedly “resulted in 1.5 million new subscribers to Tidal, for which he was supposed to get a bonus but the company hasn’t paid.” He was supposedly not compensated for his music videos either.
For Tidal’s part, they say West hasn’t delivered the videos that were required by his contract and that he is still beholden to his agreement. There don’t seem to be any lawsuits yet but we won’t be surprised if we hear something soon. It isn’t a secret that Tidal is having struggles with attracting and retaining paid subscribers, especially compared against the likes of Spotify and Apple Music. Losing exclusivity rights to a big star like West will hurt. Let’s see how this all plays out. If you want to read more about the strain in West and JAY-Z’s relationship, this Engadget piece calling out the entire thing as a break about “ego and not money.”
Source: Billboard
Monday, January 10, 2022 at 11:25AM 
