JAY-Z’s TIDAL Takes Action Amid Beyoncé & Kanye West Fake Streaming Numbers Accusations

Written By Cyrus Langhorne

Jay-Z
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Music mogul JAY-Z‘s TIDAL streaming service has hired a third-party security firm to look into a possible data breach. The big internal rumbling comes fresh off accusations of the digital giant cooking up the streaming numbers of high-profile artists Kanye West and Beyoncé.

According to reports, TIDAL is looking to clear its name by having an investigation take place to see if a possible data breach happened.

“We reject and deny the claims that have been made by Dagens Naeringsliv,” said Tidal CEO Richard Sanders, referring to the Norwegian publication that has made multiple allegations, including that the service is behind on royalty payments. The executive said that the company has pursued “multiple avenues” into investigating a possible breach, including “reporting it to proper authorities, pursuing legal action, and proactively taking steps to further strengthen our stringent security measures that are already in place.” (Apple Insider)

A few days ago, reports surfaced about TIDAL possibly spiking up its artists’ streams.

In an extensive report, Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv said it has investigated Tidal’s internal data from a hard drive it obtained that contains “billions of rows” of song titles, user IDs, and country codes, and found that – as translated by Music Business Worldwide – “Beyoncé’s and Kanye West’s listener numbers on Tidal have been manipulated to the tune of several hundred million false plays,” a practice that has “generated massive royalty payouts at the expense of other artists.” The newspaper’s investigation kicked off in 2016, when Tidal claimed that West’s album The Life of Pablo had been streamed 250 million times in its first 10 days, and that Beyoncé’s album Lemonade garnered 306 million streams in its first 15 days. At the time, Tidal reported 3 million subscribers, meaning that every subscriber would have been playing the albums nearly a dozen times a day. (Rolling Stone)

TIDAL almost immediately released a statement to address the hefty accusations.

In a statement provided to Variety, Tidal responded: “This is a smear campaign from a publication that once referred to our employee as an ‘Israeli Intelligence officer’ and our owner as a ‘crack dealer.’ We expect nothing less from them than this ridiculous story, lies and falsehoods. The information was stolen and manipulated and we will fight these claims vigorously.” The quotes reference descriptions of Jay-Z and Tidal COO/Roc Nation executive Lior Tibon in a previous Dagens Næringsliv article, which were technically accurate at one time but are decades out of date. (Variety)

In 2016, Apple Music executive Jimmy Iovine shut down rumors about his company looking to acquire TIDAL.

Apple’s appetite for acquiring music streaming services, and the agonies and ecstasies that come along with them, has apparently been satisfied. Squelching reports that have persisted since June, a member of Apple Music’s senior leadership said the company has no current plans to acquire Jay Z’s Tidal or any other rivals. “We’re really running our own race,” Jimmy Iovine, who heads Apple Music, told BuzzFeed News in an interview. “We’re not looking to acquire any streaming services.” (Buzz Feed)

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Written by Cyrus Langhorne

SOHH.com Writer. You're likely to find me covering hip-hop news and music releases. Netflix is still my go-to before Disney Plus.

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