Apple and Tidal Square Off


All was fun and great during Tidal's online stream of New Orleans' Lil Weezyana Fest last night, up until it was time for musical artist Drake to take the stage. If you were there in person, you probably got to enjoy a pretty fun set. If you weren't, and were trying to watch the music festival online like you had been, you would have noticed a strange little message taking the place of anything Drake.


"Apple is interfering with artistry and will not allow this artist to stream. Sorry for Big Brother's inconvenience," read Tidal's announcement, which it also put up on Twitter. "We will be back after performance."

However, it appears as if Tidal might have been caught exaggerating the truth about Apple's involvement a little bit. The New York Post first alleged that Apple threatened to sue Tidal for $20 million if it streamed Drake's performance—since Drake appears to be exclusive to Apple Music right now.

"Legal letters have been sent to Tidal warning that Drake cannot appear on the Tidal stream of the festival, either solo or part of a group, and if the warning was ignored, the liabilities could be up to $20 million," said an unnamed source to The New York Post.

That's not quite how Drake's manager says the arrangement went down.

"The decision to not have Drake participate in the Tidal [stream] has nothing to do with Apple or Drake's deal. Point blank, 100%. I made a business decision. Apple doesn't have the power to stop us from being part of a live stream. The only people that have the power to do that are Cash Money and Universal, and they're our partners," said Future the Prince in an interview with Buzzfeed.

However, Tidal is sticking by its claims that Apple is to blame for the lack of Drake on Tidal's stream. It's not offering up any more details on social media, nor are Tidal representatives showing off any proof they claim to have.

"We have all the email receipts and written correspondence that took place with said, blocked performance. That being said we choose to keep it classy," said a Tidal spokesperson in a statement provided to Buzzfeed.


Source: pcmag.com
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