After citing $53M in personal debt, Kanye West begs fans to subscribe to Tidal

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited February 2016
The highly anticipated new album from Kanye West has launched exclusively on streaming service Tidal, and the outspoken rapper took to Twitter to ask fans to subscribe, while also disclosing his apparent financial woes.




West's album was originally available to download from his website, but was quickly pulled. He then revealed that he "decided" not to sell the album for another week, leaving it as a streaming exclusive on Tidal, an Apple Music competitor of which he is part owner.

The release of the new album, "Life of Pablo," pushed Tidal to the No. 1 free spot on Apple's iOS App Store. How many of those free downloads turned into paid subscriptions remains unclear, however --?as of Monday morning, Tidal ranked No. 31 among the "Top Grossing" App Store downloads.

Prior to pleading with his followers to subscribe to Tidal, West revealed that he is currently $53 million in debt. He then went on to ask Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to invest $1 billion "into Kanye West ideas." Google co-founder Larry Page was also named in his quest for cash.

"All you dudes in San Fran play rap music in your homes but never help the real artists..." West wrote in a series of tweets. "You'd rather open up one school in Africa like you really helped the country... if you want to help... help me."

Owned by rapper Jay Z, Tidal launched last April with 17 other artists and bands owning small stakes in the company, including West, Nicki Minaj and Usher. Despite this backing, and exclusives from musicians like Prince and Beyonce, it has struggled to gain marketshare versus players like Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Music.

The service costs $10 per month -- like Spotify or Apple Music -- but also offers a unique $20 tier with lossless audio. Another distinguishing aspect is that the service pays higher royalties than its competitors, making it more artist-friendly.

Apple revealed last week that its Apple Music subscription service currently has 11 million paid members. Tidal, meanwhile, reached 1 million subscribers last September, but no updated counts have been provided since.
«134

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 73
    thrangthrang Posts: 1,034member
    This is hilarious...
    cornchipmwhitelkruppjahbladeirelandchiamacky the mackynolamacguyjbdragonpulseimages
  • Reply 2 of 73
    I hear Dr. Dre has a few extra dollars lying around. 
    jahbladecali1983
  • Reply 3 of 73
    ...
    cornchipmwhitelkrupponeof52radarthekatmacky the macky1983brucemcbrakkenquadra 610
  • Reply 4 of 73
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,935member
    Very funny. I am sure for every singer has some followers. His ego is bigger than his art. Moreover, first he needs to fix his attitude and public behavior on or off stage. If Facebook or Google or anyone invests in him than I will sell stop investing in that company stock and stop using their products. Mr. Waste, if you are broke than get a loan from your wife,.help bring you down to earth.
    edited February 2016 mwhitecalimacky the macky1983brucemcrfrmacjbdragonpulseimages
  • Reply 5 of 73
    A shining example of the Millennial mindset. If you want to read some really weird stuff, read the series of tweets that follow his $53 million in debt tweet. He's a laughable idiot.
    matrix077mwhitejahbladecalipoksimacky the macky1983rfrmacjbdragonAni
  • Reply 6 of 73
    Do not help Africa- help the West, Kanye West. 
    cornchipquadra 610mwhiteradarthekattheunfetteredmindcalimacky the mackynolamacguyjbdragonAni
  • Reply 7 of 73
    LOL...
    I would not worry about Kanye folks.  He is worth about 100 million and his wife Kim is worth about 40 million.
    Obviously he wants to make every penny that he can and support his friend JZ's Tidal.
    JZ is worth about 630 million and his wife Beyonce is work about 450 million, so they could help Kanye out if necessary.

    mwhitejahbladeirelandcalichiamacky the macky1983bostonrob
  • Reply 8 of 73
    Well, it seems to work.. so kudos to him.

    Weird shit though.
    edited February 2016
  • Reply 9 of 73
    yuck9yuck9 Posts: 112member
    The highly anticipated new album from Kanye West has launched exclusively on streaming service Tidal, and the outspoken rapper took to Twitter to ask fans to subscribe, while also disclosing his apparent financial woes.




    West's album was originally available to download from his website, but was quickly pulled. He then revealed that he "decided" not to sell the album for another week, leaving it as a streaming exclusive on Tidal, an Apple Music competitor of which he is part owner.

    The release of the new album, "Life of Pablo," pushed Tidal to the No. 1 free spot on Apple's iOS App Store. How many of those free downloads turned into paid subscriptions remains unclear, however --?as of Monday morning, Tidal ranked No. 31 among the "Top Grossing" App Store downloads.

    Prior to pleading with his followers to subscribe to Tidal, West revealed that he is currently $53 million in debt. He then went on to ask Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to invest $1 billion "into Kanye West ideas." Google co-founder Larry Page was also named in his quest for cash.

    "All you dudes in San Fran play rap music in your homes but never help the real artists..." West wrote in a series of tweets. "You'd rather open up one school in Africa like you really helped the country... if you want to help... help me."

    Owned by rapper Jay Z, Tidal launched last April with 17 other artists and bands owning small stakes in the company, including West, Nicki Minaj and Usher. Despite this backing, and exclusives from musicians like Prince and Beyonce, it has struggled to gain marketshare versus players like Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Music.

    The service costs $10 per month -- like Spotify or Apple Music -- but also offers a unique $20 tier with lossless audio. Another distinguishing aspect is that the service pays higher royalties than its competitors, making it more artist-friendly.

    Apple revealed last week that its Apple Music subscription service currently has 11 million paid members. Tidal, meanwhile, reached 1 million subscribers last September, but no updated counts have been provided since.
    Try not to be a jerk to your fans and you might get more subs. IMO You earned your fate. Total Loser.

    bdkennedy1002macky the mackypulseimages
  • Reply 10 of 73
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    thrang said:
    This is hilarious...
    They live in a different world, don’t they.
    jahbladecornchiponeof52macky the mackyrfrmacjbdragon
  • Reply 11 of 73
    lymflymf Posts: 65member
    I'd be Facebook or google, if someone begs me to help them financially, I'll wait a little bit so it is for sale and bargain then I own the damn thing 
  • Reply 12 of 73
    jakebjakeb Posts: 563member


    "All you dudes in San Fran play rap music in your homes but never help the real artists..." West wrote in a series of tweets. "You'd rather open up one school in Africa like you really helped the country... if you want to help... help me."

    I hope he's got some secret philanthropic plans because otherwise this really sounds pretty ridiculous. 
    cornchip6Sgoldfishtheunfetteredmindmacky the mackypulseimages
  • Reply 13 of 73
    "You'd rather open up one school in Africa like you really helped the country... if you want to help... help me."

    Wow. That makes me wanna cancel my Tidal subscription instead. 
    edited February 2016 roxsocksSpamSandwichbdkennedy1002pscooter63theunfetteredmindcalimacky the mackynolamacguy1983lolliver
  • Reply 14 of 73
    linkmanlinkman Posts: 1,046member
    West is probably a lot richer than anyone on this forum (discounting debts like this which he'll likely never have to pay back) and where did he get most of his money from? People like those in San Fran playing and buying rap music. If he's a real artist then he has been raised up on the shoulders of his fans. They are the ones shoveling money into his pockets.


    $53 million in debt with a bad business model -- I'm glad I'm not one of his creditors. I listened to one of his songs one time that I know of -- I thought it was terrible and suspect he's hiding a lack of talent behind significant autotuning (linkman's opinion and I'll admit I can't sing either).


    It's hard to feel sorry for him.
  • Reply 15 of 73
    linkman said:
    West is probably a lot richer than anyone on this forum (discounting debts like this which he'll likely never have to pay back) and where did he get most of his money from? People like those in San Fran playing and buying rap music. If he's a real artist then he has been raised up on the shoulders of his fans. They are the ones shoveling money into his pockets.


    $53 million in debt with a bad business model -- I'm glad I'm not one of his creditors. I listened to one of his songs one time that I know of -- I thought it was terrible and suspect he's hiding a lack of talent behind significant autotuning (linkman's opinion and I'll admit I can't sing either).


    It's hard to feel sorry for him.
    He and his wife are repellent creatures.
    cnocbuimacky the mackybuzdotslolliver
  • Reply 16 of 73
    irelandireland Posts: 17,799member
    He must be bipolar.
    edited February 2016
  • Reply 17 of 73
    ireland said:
    He must be bipolar.
    Maybe. He's definitely losing it.
  • Reply 18 of 73
    Piece of trash deserves everything coming to him.
    macky the macky1983buzdots
  • Reply 19 of 73
    Who's the "Gold Digger" now?
    Rayz2016calipatchythepirate1983dasanman69rfrmac
  • Reply 20 of 73
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    What… what is wrong with this idiot?


    brakken
Sign In or Register to comment.