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Kanye: Apple and Tidal 'bullshit' caused Drake rift
Kanye West says that he and Jay Z didn't appear on the final "Pop Style" track of Drake's Apple Music exclusive Views album because of Apple's rivalry with Tidal. "Y'all didn't get, what y'all were supposed to get with me and Drake on this song because of some Tidal/Apple bullshit," he said in a Saint Pablo tour video spotted by The Fader (below). He added that Jay Z pulled his own vocal "out of respect to Meek Mill," presumably over the infamous Mill and Drake Twitter tiff.
Kello trains your sleeping habits without using sensors
While there are already a handful of devices that claim to improve our sleep quality, one little startup from Hong Kong's Brinc IoT accelerator thinks that it can do a better job. Kello is a sleep trainer that comes in the form of an internet radio alarm slash Bluetooth speaker slash home automation hub, and unlike some of the competition, it doesn't use any bed sensor, clip-on device nor wearable to track the user's sleep activity. Instead, it's all about leveraging "simple, effective and scientifically proven techniques" from specialists to help us sleep faster, wake up better and ultimately change our lifestyle.
Paid streaming services provide a big boost to the music industry
Streaming continues to play a bigger role in music industry revenue and now it's starting to provide some real help offsetting declining album sales in the US. In its mid-year report, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reports that the industry saw its biggest growth in the first half of 2016 since the 1990s, up 8.1 percent year-over-year to $3.4 billion. In terms of music streaming as a whole, revenue from those services was up 57 percent during the first half of the year and it now makes up 47 percent of the music industry's total revenue. That's up from 32 percent of the total revenue this time last year.
Apple says it won't be buying Tidal anytime soon
A few months ago, the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was in acquisition talks with Tidal, a music streaming service helmed by Jay-Z as well as a number of prominent musicians. Yesterday, however, those rumors were shut down. In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Jimmy Iovine, the head of Apple Music, said: "We're not looking to acquire any streaming service." He did not indicate that there weren't any talks, but it does seem that a Tidal acquisition is off the cards, at least for now.
Tidal lost huge sums of money fighting streaming rivals
If you guessed that it would be expensive for a small streaming service like Tidal to compete with heavyweights like Apple and Spotify, especially through exclusives... you guessed correctly. Tidal's parent company, Aspiro, has reported a $28 million loss for 2015, the year Jay-Z bought it. That's more than twice the $10.4 million loss it chalked up in 2014. While the Wall Street Journal understands that this doesn't include all US financial data (it's not a "complete picture"), it's not exactly flattering. That's particularly true when Tidal didn't have a guaranteed source of funding going into 2016.
Frank Ocean's 'Blonde' has been pirated 750,000 times
It seems streaming exclusives are continuing to create a rise in piracy. After a four-year hiatus Frank Ocean finally resurfaced, dropping his long-anticipated sophomore album, Blonde, on Apple Music last weekend. Critics and fans are enjoying it, but it's not all good news for the R&B singer. So far, the album has been illegally downloaded over a whopping 750,000 times.
Kanye West wants Apple and Tidal to stop fighting over exclusives
Kanye West may be best known on Twitter for starting feuds, but now he's trying to end one... and it's even a rivalry he helped create. In a flurry of four tweets, the rapper griped that the competition between Apple and Tidal over streaming music exclusives is nothing but a "dick swinging contest" that's "fucking up the music game." Yes, that's right -- the man who released his latest album as a Tidal exclusive (if only temporarily) now wants peace. He's even suggesting a meeting with Jay-Z, Tim Cook and other bigwigs to make it happen, and wishes that Apple would just buy Tidal to end the fighting once and for all.
Tidal adds Chromecast support for its iOS and Android apps
Next time Bey drops a surprise album -- and with Lemonade's success, we wouldn't be surprised -- you can beam it straight to a Chromecast-enabled TV or speakers. Tidal's latest app refresh adds Chromecast support for iPhones, iPads and Android devices, so you can watch Queen B and Riri slay in their music videos on a bigger screen. The update's out right now and rolls out with some playlist queue improvements and bug fixes. We only hope the feature's here to stay even if Apple ends up buying Jay-z's streaming service.
The After Math: Pay up
This was a week of folks getting theirs. Brazil locked down $6 million of Facebook assets in its ongoing battle of WhatsApp. Disney shelled out $3.5 billion for the company that runs MLB At Bat. Hall-of-Fame running back Jim Brown squeezed $600,000 out of EA for its unlicensed use of his likeness. And Apple is reportedly about to spend big bucks buying Tidal from Jay-Z. Numbers, because how else are you going to measure financial debt?
WSJ: Apple in talks to buy Tidal
Jay Z could be the next rapper making a big sale to Tim Cook, as the Wall Street Journal cites anonymous sources saying Apple is in "exploratory" talks to buy Tidal, although a spokesperson for the music service said there had not been any talks. As to why Apple would buy, the answer could be Tidal's direct relationship with artists, something that could bolsters Apple Music's offerings. Exclusivity of high-profile album and mixtape releases has been a recurring theme lately, and buying out the service could arm Apple with more content that competitors like Spotify (which has its own issues with Apple) and Google Play can't offer.
Adele's '25' heads to streaming services now that you bought it
Chances are you've already purchased Adele's 25 if you really wanted to hear it or obtained it through other means. Now that the artist has enjoyed seven months of albums sales, the collection of songs will debut on streaming services tonight at midnight ET. According to Billboard, Apple Music, Amazon Prime, Spotify and Tidal confirmed that the album will be available in their respective libraries this evening. Mashable reports that Google Play is a landing spot for the singer's latest work as well.
Kanye West adds 'Saint Pablo' track to his living album
Whether you love, hate or have been pushed to piracy by either the artist or his unconventional release strategy, Kanye West will continue meddling with his The Life of Pablo album. After announcing the Saint Pablo tour early in the day, the album disappeared from its listing on Tidal before reappearing with an extra song. The 20th track on the ever changing album is also titled Saint Pablo and features Sampha. It's live on Tidal and iTunes/Apple Music so far, although we haven't heard about any other changes to the album. Saint Pablo isn't an entirely new piece however, as the track leaked online around the same time TLOP stopped being a Tidal-exclusive. Of course, while the lack of exclusivity could be a downer, West is still pushing Tidal with the new tour, promising its members will have early pre-sale access to tickets tomorrow on the 16th.
Beyoncé's 'Lemonade' could be a permanent Tidal streaming exclusive (updated)
The crew at Tidal just scored another exclusive album... and this time, its creator might not have second thoughts about the deal. Beyoncé has released the visual album Lemonade solely on Tidal, and sources speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Mashable and The Verge understand that the superstar's latest will be locked to that one streaming service "indefinitely." It might even be a permanent exclusive, according to the insiders. You'll have the option of buying the album from third-party download services in the weeks ahead, but you'll likely be out of luck if you prefer on-demand rivals like Apple Music or Spotify.
Drake's 'Views From the 6' album is an Apple Music exclusive
Music-streaming services are relying on exclusive content to outdo each other. And whether we like it or not, it doesn't look as if that's going to change anytime soon. Now, Drake has revealed that his fourth studio album, titled Views From the 6, will release April 29th exclusively on Apple Music. Oddly enough, the Canadian rapper tweeted the announcement Saturday night, but he's since deleted that tweet and replaced it with another which doesn't mention the deal with Apple. Nevertheless, the Cupertino company confirmed the exclusive to Pitchfork.
Kanye West album will top charts after Tidal exclusive ends
If you guessed that Kanye West's short-lived decision to make The Life of Pablo a Tidal exclusive would hurt the album's chances... you guessed correctly. Music industry forecasters now expect Kanye's latest to top the Billboard charts for April 23rd, which will include the first results from other streaming music services as well as purchases from both Tidal as well as the star's own website. The data suggests that Tidal just isn't big enough to support a major album at this point, even if it did lead to many people signing up (however temporarily) when they wouldn't have otherwise.
Producer recreates 'The Life of Pablo' without ever hearing it
If you didn't know, Kanye West's latest album was a Tidal exclusive for a pretty long time. Tidal isn't available in Japan, and pirating music is a criminal offence with penalties as harsh as up to two years prison time for downloading and ten (yes, ten) for uploading. With no way to listen to the album, producer Toyomu decided to take matters into his own hands. He decided to make his own The Life of Pablo (TLOP).
Kanye West's new album may hit Apple Music, Spotify tomorrow (update)
Anyone who's familiar with Kanye's antics knows to always take his words with a grain of salt. Back in February, after releasing The Life of Pablo exclusively on Tidal (a music service he owns a stake in), West tweeted that the album would "never never never be on Apple [Music]." But, thankfully for some of his fans, it looks like that statement won't hold true. According to reports from Mashable and Recode, citing sources familiar with the matter, TLOP will be released on Apple Music and Spotify this Friday, April 1st. Shocker.
Tidal has 3 million subscribers a year after Jay Z's takeover
This week marks a year since Jay Z and a lineup of big-name artists took over Tidal, touting a library of exclusive content and a lossless audio option. In the 12 months since Mr. Carter & Co. took control, the streaming service amassed 3 million subscribers, up from the first million the company announced last fall. There's no doubt exclusive releases, especially Kayne West's The Life of Pablo, gave those paid plans a boost, but Tidal still has a lot of work to do if it wants to catch Spotify and Apple Music.
Streaming is now the US music industry's biggest money maker
It may have just been a matter of time, but it finally happened: streaming music is now the biggest cash cow for the American music industry. The RIAA's latest year-end sales report reveals that streaming accounted for 34.3 percent of US music revenue in 2015, barely edging past the 34 percent of downloads. Physical sales, meanwhile, were down to 28.8 percent. And despite concerns about free listening hurting the bottom line, paid subscriptions were the star of the show. While ad-based streaming pulled in 30.6 percent more cash versus 2014, paid subscriptions jumped 52.3 percent -- suddenly, forking over $10 a month for unlimited music wasn't such a far-fetched idea.
Tidal extends free trial for the updated version of Kanye's album
By now you've likely heard all about how Kanye West's The Life of Pablo will always be a Tidal exclusive. When the album first dropped, West mentioned on Twitter that he would "fix" the song "Wolves." To make sure users who flocked to the service for the album are able to stream the new version, Tidal is extending its free trial for another 30 days. The service sent out an email to temporary users today, explaining that the updated song and a new track "Fade" were added to Pablo. However, "Fade" was already available as a part of the initial release.
