After days of reports stating that Beyoncé's entire musical catalogue may be pulled from Jay Z's online streaming service Tidal, Sony Music has spoken up saying they have no plans to remove the 20 time Grammy winner from the service or any other artist they represent.
In a statement, Sony Music CEO Doug Morris says that "Jay Z is a friend and business associate for many years. I have always admired his business acumen, his entrepreneurship and his passion for music." He concluded by saying that he, and the rest of Sony's partners, wish for the Jay Z owned music start up to succeed.
Morris' statement comes as a response to the scathing profile on Jay Z's latest business venture which was published by Bloomberg days earlier. The Bloomberg article slammed Tidal, labelling it a 'complete disaster' and criticized Jay Z for the mixed messages sent during the services' much panned launch event held last March.
The report mentions that top record labels like Sony and Warner are demanding huge upfront payments from Tidal in return for the right for the service to carry their artist's catalogues. Bloomberg says that this may have led to a situation where Beyoncé, a Sony backed artist, does not have her music available for streaming on her husband's own service.
Tidal was unveiled last March in a star studded launch event where Jay Z, together with some of the music industry's biggest names like Rihanna, Usher, and Alicia Keys, promised a musical streaming service that would provide better royalty fees to artists and a better overall experience to users.
So far it is unsure whether Jay Z and his company have succeeded on either front. Critics question whether Tidal truly is an artist first service. The company offers music artists a 75% royalty rate, which is only 5% more than biggest rival Spotify. Customers on the other hand, have said that Tidal simply doesn't justify its $20 a month price tag.
Tidal reports that it currently has around 900,000 subscribers, which is short of the 60 million user base of market leader Spotify.
