Lily Allen warns Jay Z's Tidal could lead to more music piracy and affect new artists
'Up and coming (not yet millionaires) artists are going to suffer as a result'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Lily Allen has criticised Jay Z's new music streaming service Tidal, warning it will lead to more piracy and could affect upcoming artists struggling to break into the industry.
Allen wrote on Twitter: "I LOVE Jay Z so much, but TIDAL is soon expensive compared to other perfectly good streaming services, he’s taking the biggest Artists, made them exclusive to TIDAL (am I right in thinking this ?), people are going to swarm back to Pirate sites in droves, sending traffic to torrent sites.
"Up and coming (not yet millionaires) artists are going to suffer as a result."
Jay Z pledged to change the financial model of music streaming by creating the first artist-owned streaming service.
Music fans were quick to criticise the host of wealthy artists who signed up to Tidal, accusing them of seeking to earn even more money from their audiences by hosting exclusive content.
After pulling her entire back catalogue from Spotify last year, Taylor Swift’s albums – with the exception of 1989 – appeared on Tidal last week.
Swift said she was "not willing to contribute my life’s work to an experiment that I don’t feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists and creators of music".
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments