Jay Z pulls albums from Apple Music and Spotify

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited April 2017
As the streaming music war intensifies, hip hop star and Tidal co-owner Jay Z is quietly removing his music from major streaming music outlets Apple Music and Spotify, while leaving the same tracks in place on his own service.




While Jay Z has yet to publicly confirm the move, spotted by MacRumors, a bulk of the artist's solo work is no longer available for streaming on Tidal competitors Apple Music or Spotify. Other services, including Google Play Music and SoundCloud Go+, have yet to be affected by the takedown.

Currently, Apple Music and Spotify users in the U.S. have access to a handful of collaborations including the DJ Khaled single "Shining," which also features Beyonce. Compared to Apple Music, Spotify appears to have a few more tracks available, though these may also disappear in the near future as the streaming service confirmed Jay Z's takedown to Engadget on Friday, saying, "some of his catalog has been removed at the request of the artist."

At the moment, Apple Music users accessing the service in the UK can still stream Jay Z's Reasonable Doubt, Hard Knock Life, In My Lifetime, Collision Course and the collaborative Watch the Throne album, though other works have been pulled.

Jay Z entered the streaming music game in 2015 with the purchase of Tidal and its Swedish parent company Aspiro. Since its relaunch in mid-2015, Tidal has survived on an aggressive business model built on segmenting the streaming market with artist exclusives.

Prince, for example, yanked his music from all services save for Tidal in July 2015. The Purple One's Warner Brother's ultimately returned to Apple Music and other streaming services in February, some ten months after his death.

Kanye West, a minority stake holder in Tidal, released his album Life of Pablo as a Tidal exclusive last year, saying the tracks would never arrive on Apple Music or iTunes. Life of Pablo is currently available for streaming on Apple Music.

Apple Music and Spotify also compete on exclusives with windowed releases, usually hotly anticipated albums from top artists that are offered during a period of exclusivity ranging from weeks to months. Outright restrictions, however, are apparently not part of those service's respective strategies.

Tidal is under pressure to perform against stiff competition from established industry heavyweights. In January, Sprint purchased 33 percent of Tidal in a deal that promised customers of the wireless service "exclusive artist content."

Streaming services are quickly becoming the de facto standard in music distribution. In 2016, subscription services like Apple Music, Spotify and Pandora helped drive the music industry's biggest gain since 1998, according to a recent report from the Recording Industry Association of America. Importantly, streaming platforms generated a majority of American revenues, a first for the digital model.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 66
    The world will be a better place when he and his horrible wife are irrelevant and forgotten. 
    SpamSandwichmacseekercaliRacerhomieXryan2012stevenozGrimzahnkestralzroger73mobird
  • Reply 2 of 66
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    Same issues with Ultraviolet. I wouldn't complain if they included an iTunes redemption code bug they don't always do that. Too many artists just have to have their own way regardless of what customers want. 
    macseekercali
  • Reply 3 of 66
    EsquireCatsEsquireCats Posts: 1,268member
    Presumable this was done to create some exclusivity for Tidal, but a single artist is not going to have much effect, especially for a service that is more expensive. More likely this demographic will just resort to sharing the music.
    baconstanglostkiwi
  • Reply 4 of 66
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    Thats his loss really...not anyone else's. It surely isn't going to make anyone start joining Tidal. His music isn't that popular. If anything, it will just make people start looking for other avenues to listen if they so choose to (legal or illegal). 
    london11mac_dogbaconstangNameo_jbdragonlostkiwiwatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 66
    bluefire1bluefire1 Posts: 1,301member
    Jay Z  pulls his albums.
    Zzzzzzzzzzz
    mac_dogjeffharrisbaconstanglostkiwijbdragonanton zuykovpulseimageswatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 66
    Looks like someone is trying to get attention. 
    mac_dogjeffharrisbaconstanglostkiwipulseimageswatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 66
    Jay who?
    rotateleftbytezroger73mac_dogjeffharrisbaconstangNameo_jbdragonpulseimageswatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 66
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    He must be burning through millions of dollars in losses every month to keep Tidal afloat.
    EsquireCatslondon11mac_dogjeffharrisbaconstangjbdragonpulseimageswatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 66
    lerxtlerxt Posts: 186member
    Never heard of him before...
    SpamSandwichmacseekerzroger73mac_dogpulseimageswatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 66
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    Is Mr. Beyonce even relevant anymore?
    jeffharrisbaconstanglostkiwipulseimageswatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 66
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    sflocal said:
    Is Mr. Beyonce even relevant anymore?
    Was he ever?
    jeffharrisbaconstangNameo_jbdragonpulseimageswatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 66
    rob55rob55 Posts: 1,291member
    voodooru said:
    the crapple apologists are out in full force. not surprised 

    None of you clowns make a living from
    music. So you truly don't understand. 




    This has nothing to do with being Apple apologists, as this affects Spotify as well. And perhaps you're the one who doesn't understand, as Mr. Carter's move is akin to cutting off one's nose to spite one's face, all to manipulate people into subscribing to his floundering streaming service.
    caliryan2012williamhGulaakchiagilly017jeffharrisbaconstangStrangeDaysjbdragon
  • Reply 13 of 66
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    voodooru said:
    the crapple apologists are out in full force. not surprised 

    None of you clowns make a living from
    music. So you truly don't understand. 




    Apple Music pays the most.

    "crapple", let me guess, the 12 year old hates Apple while typing on an Apple knockoff device. 
    wlymGulaaklkrupppatchythepiratechiagilly017jeffharrisbaconstangStrangeDaysequality72521
  • Reply 14 of 66
    williamhwilliamh Posts: 1,032member
    voodooru said:
    the crapple apologists are out in full force. not surprised 

    None of you clowns make a living from
    music. So you truly don't understand. 




    Why do we clowns need to understand?  I don't give a damn about some 'artist' named Jiz  The fans can presumably still pick up a CD at Walmart.
    baconstangmassconn72watto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 66
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    What a bunch of nasty comments from petty and jealous people. You couldn't even keep it on topic about Jay-Z for a single page without calling Beyonce a horrible slutty bitch. I'm especially surprised by Cali's pejorative statement that woman shouldn't have the right to even vote, much less other equal rights. Disgusting. At least now I know who on this forum uses the hashtag #RepealThe19th on social media.
    edited April 2017 montrosemacsjahbladeStrangeDaysfrankiebulk001bancho
  • Reply 16 of 66
    jSnivelyjSnively Posts: 429administrator
    If you think Jay-Z wasn't, and isn't, important to rap, hip-hop, and popular music and culture then you really have a lot of research to do. You may not like his music, or his personality, or whatever, but his impact is pretty undeniable.

    Other services are worse for not having his oeuvre, but it makes sense he's working to double-down on Tidal given his personal stake in it.  At the end of the day, however,  there's still plenty of other ways to get the music, and it probably only hurts him to not have it as readily available as it could be.
    SolijahbladeGulaakpatchythepirategilly017frankiebulk001Macsplosionnetmagestevenoz
  • Reply 17 of 66
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    jSnively said:
    If you think Jay-Z wasn't, and isn't, important to rap, hip-hop, and popular music and culture then you really have a lot of research to do. You may not like his music, or his personality, or whatever, but his impact is pretty undeniable.

    Other services are worse for not having his oeuvre, but it makes sense he's working to double-down on Tidal given his personal stake in it.  At the end of the day, however,  there's still plenty of other ways to get the music, and it probably only hurts him to not have it as readily available as it could be.
    On a similar note, Jeff Bezos doesn't allow the Apple TV on Amazon and there's no Amazon Prime Video app on the 4th gen Apple TV's App Store. For better or worse, these are basic business maneuvers. Until the Apple TV offers 2160p+HDR, I'm better off just using my UHDTV's app, but I'd ideally like not need to switch between UIs to access all my streaming content. 

    I wonder if any those articles had people claiming Bezos irrelevant and his a slut?¡
    edited April 2017 jahbladespice-boyjSnivelyStrangeDayslightknightbancho
  • Reply 18 of 66
    evilutionevilution Posts: 1,399member
    Don't worry, when the thought of profit overcomes his pride, his audio shit will return to Apple Music.
    Gulaakjeffharrisbaconstangbulk001jbdragonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 66
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    evilution said:
    Don't worry, when the thought of profit overcomes his pride, his audio shit will return to Apple Music.
    Why assume this move isn't about profit? Do you really think he's amassed his fortune from pride, and not from focusing on his investments?

    How do you square that with Apple when they stop selling a vendor's product or stop using a 3rd-party retailer for their wares? Does that limitation also warrant a claim that it's all about silly pride, and not profit?
    edited April 2017 jahblade
  • Reply 20 of 66
    hexclockhexclock Posts: 1,243member
    voodooru said:
    the crapple apologists are out in full force. not surprised 

    None of you clowns make a living from
    music. So you truly don't understand. 




    And just how many albums have you sold to make you an expert?
    baconstangjbdragonwatto_cobra
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