Tidal, Jay-Z’s music streaming service, is experiencing a meltdown. And it has something to do with Kanye West, the king of meltdowns. By virtue of being owned by Jay-Z, Tidal is positioned to have exclusive rights to music by artists that are friends and associates of Jay-Z, Beyonce and their extended circle, however, Tidal appears to not be taking advantage of this.
The Life of Pablo, Kanye West’s anticipated album, was released on Tidal on the weekend. The release was no small affair with Kanye building up momentum by releasing a song every Friday in the months before and then his Twar with Wiz Khalifa about the album’s title built hype around the album.
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As one would expect, demand was high and when the album finally released on Tidal, Kanye announced that it was not going to be released anywhere else except Tidal. Kanye rallied on people to download Tidal to download the album and as a result the Tidal shot to the number app in the world.
Man thank you so so so much everyone for signing up to Tidal. Tidal is now the number one app in the world!!! pic.twitter.com/O3r9DkX03R
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
The music streaming service was certainly not prepared for the huge number of people who downloaded the app. What caused the problem was Kanye West changing his mind about putting up the album for sale as a download. After promising so, he went back on his word, removed the ability to download the album on the app but it was too late as some users had already bought it and were waiting their downloads.
The customers, as you would expect, were not pleased and they took to Twitter to express their frustrations.
Over 26 hours since @TIDALHiFi ripped me off for $20 for a digital download and still no resolution. Have both DM'd and submitted a ticket
— Trill (@will_mcchesney) February 15, 2016
@TIDALHiFi if you don't give me my money back before the end of the business day I'm going to dispute the charges with my bank.
— Steak Medallions (@steakmedallions) February 15, 2016
@TIDALHiFi where is my Kanye album? You've taken my money and still nothing……
— Mikeeeee (@Michael_Snooze) February 15, 2016
Though Tidal is clearly not coping with its new found fame, it does not look like the the album is going to be available anywhere else. The only thing to do now is do heed the Yeezus word, and follow him.
My album will never never never be on Apple. And it will never be for sale… You can only get it on Tidal.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
