Jay-Z Songs Back on Spotify in Further Hit to His Tidal Service
Jay-Z Songs Back on Spotify in Further Hit to His Tidal Service
(Bloomberg) -- He’s not a businessman, he’s a business, man -- and it looks like Spotify is good for business.
Jay-Z, who pulled most of his albums from Spotify Technology SA in 2017 in favor of his rival Tidal platform, celebrated his 50th birthday Wednesday by returning his music to the world’s largest audio streaming service. The Swedish company welcomed him back in a tweet at midnight New York time.
The move continues a trend toward wider streaming distribution for the hip-hop legend’s oeuvre. Jay-Z, born Shawn Carter, returned some albums to Apple Inc.’s music service earlier this year.
It also raises questions about the health of Tidal, which Jay-Z bought for $56 million in 2014. The closely held service hasn’t reported subscriber figures since touting 3 million paying customers in 2016. Spotify reported 113 million subscribers in its most recent quarterly results, in October. Tidal didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
--With assistance from Erin McClam.
To contact the reporter on this story: John J. Edwards III in Boston at jedwardsiii1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Cécile Daurat
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.