On Friday, June 30, veteran hip-hop artist Jay-Z released his thirteenth studio album 4:44. However, the only way to hear the album is to sign-up for Jay-Z’s exclusive streaming service Tidal. The only other option is to obtain the album through less-than-legal means, which is exactly what another veteran hip-hop artist, Snoop Dogg, says he did.
In a video posted to Instagram, Snoop Dogg said:
“I’m on iTunes and shit cuz, I don’t understand that—y’all gotta explain that to me. I went to iTunes looking for this album and I couldn’t find it. But my homie sent it to me. You understand me. He did it again.”
While Snoop Dogg does not admit to downloading the album himself, he admits someone “had to bootleg it to me”.
Since its inception, Tidal has struggled to compete with the bigger name streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. Tidal claims to have 3 million subscribers. However, investigators found that Tidal is reportedly inflating their subscriber numbers, and actually only have a few hundred thousand. Either way, the streaming service lags far behind Apple Music’s 27 million subscribers, and even further behind Spotify’s 50 million subscribers.
This is not the only trouble for Tidal recently, as as reports are saying Kanye West cut his ties with the company, saying they are in breach of contract and owe him $3 million.
