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Jay-Z hits out at Tidal critics in Twitter rant
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 27 April 2015
Hey everybody, will you all stop saying Tidal is shit / doomed / dead / pointless / over-priced / delusional / disingenuous / all hype / same old same old / a waste of space / a closed shop club for multi-millionaire popstars / an offence to all decent creators / a joke / a mess / an abomination / a steaming pile of the most magnificent nonsensical nonsense. Because it’s upsetting Shawn.
And when Shawn gets upset he takes to Twitter to set the record straight. And so it came to pass that – after several weeks of disses and rumour following that bizarre relaunch event that one day we’ll all realise was a work of genius (or possibly a foretelling of the end times, one of the other) – Jay-Z took to the tweets yesterday to tell us all Tidal is doing just fine. “Tidal is doing just fine”, he tweeted, which is a sure fire sign that Tidal is doing just fine.
“We have over 770,000 subs”, he went on, noting that “we have been in business less than one month – the iTunes Store wasn’t built in a day and it took Spotify nine years to be successful”.
Of course, that would mean Spotify only became successful last week (it having launched as a company in 2006 and as a service in 2008), and he ignores the fact WiMP/Tidal actually launched in 2010, but Jay-Z never claimed to be a historian.
He tweeted on: “We are here for the long haul. Please give us a chance to grow and get better. There are many big companies that are spending millions on a smear campaign. We are not anti-anyone, we are pro-artist and fan. We made Tidal for fans. We have more than just music. We have video, exclusive concerts, tickets for events early, live sports!”
And as for anyone who doubted NuTidal when it said it was going to be the artist friendly streaming service, well, prepare that humble pie.
“Tidal is where artists can give their fans more without the middlemen”, says Jay. You know, like every other streaming service if you’re a self-releasing artist. “Indie artists who want to work directly with us keep 100% of their music”, he added. Unlike all those other streaming services who, erm, what now? I don’t know.
Though, he goes on, “Tidal pays 75% royalty rate to ALL artists, writers and producers – not just the founding members on stage”. Which is 5% higher than the Spotifys et al (though given rumours the labels were being offered that 5%, that’s not so great news for the songwriters and publishers who are also presumably hoping for more).
And as for the “rich getting richer?” slur fired at RocTidal, well, Mr Z rolls on: “Equity values… YouTube $390 billion, Apple $760 billion, Spotify $8 billion, Tidal $60 million”. See?
And if you’re not yet convinced, the rap/Roc/stream mogul went on: “My cousin just moved to Nigeria to discover new talent. Tidal is a global company. We have Tidal X – it supports artists by giving them a platform to connect with their most loyal fans. Tidal is for all. Our actions will speak louder than words. We made Tidal to bring people the best experiences… and to help artists give that to their fans over and over again. We are human (even Daft Punk ha). We aren’t perfect – but we are determined”. And then he plugged an exclusive Jack White stream.
So there you have it. We can confirm once and for all and without even a hint of doubt that Tidal is NOT shit / doomed / dead / pointless / over-priced / delusional / disingenuous / all hype / same old same old / a waste of space / a closed shop club for multi-millionaire pop stars / an offence to all decent creators / a joke / a mess / an abomination / a streaming pile of the most magnificent nonsensical nonsense. Thank you Shawn.
