Tidal Vs Apple Music Vs Spotify: Jay Z Takes Down Albums From Competing Music Services

Rapper Jay Z, who co-owns streaming music service Tidal, has apparently removed all his solo albums from Apple Music and also took down some of his music from Spotify.

When checking Apple Music on Friday afternoon, only albums in which Jay Z collaborated with other artists, including Linkin Park and R. Kelly, were visible under a search of his name. A handful songs that Jay Z did with other musicians, such as “Holy Grail” which featured Justin Timberlake, are still available on Apple Music.

However, it seems like Jay Z hasn’t cut off all ties with Apple, since many of his albums and videos are still available on iTunes.

Jay Z’s music was also taken off Spotify, a tweet posted Friday spotted by MacRumors shows. In response to the tweet Spotify said: “We can confirm that some of Jay Z's catalogue has been removed at the request of the artist /LP.”

It’s not explicitly clear why Jay Z took down his work from Apple Music and Spotify, but Hova does own rival streaming service, Tidal. Although Tidal has many famous stakeholders, including Beyonce, Kanye West and Rihanna, the service has lagged behind Apple Music and Spotify.

In January, Sprint bought a 33 percent stake in Tidal. The streaming service was expected to start producing content available exclusively to Sprint customers after the deal. Whether the acquisition played a role in Jay Z’s decision to take down his music from Apple Music and Spotify is not certain.

Tidal, like Apple Music, costs $9.99 a month, and offers a library of about 42.5 million songs and 140,000 videos. Tidal said last year it had 3 million subscribers, but reports have disputed that number. Apple Music passed the 20 million paid subscribers barrier last year, while Spotify has more than 40 million paid and 100 million total users.