Advertisement

Jay Z: My App Has Been Smeared By Big Firms

Jay Z: My App Has Been Smeared By Big Firms

Jay Z claims big companies are "spending millions on a smear campaign" against his new music streaming service Tidal.

The app - which promises to pay a 75% royalty rate to artists - has slipped out of the top 700 Apple store apps while rival Spotify has soared.

The rapper took to Twitter to defend his service, which is co-owned by artists including Kanye West, Madonna, Jack White and Daft Punk.

He wrote: "The iTunes Store wasn't built in a day. It took Spotify nine years to be successful. We are here for the long haul.

"Please give us a chance to grow and get better. There are many big companies that are spending millions on a smear campaign.

"We are not anti-anyone, we are pro-artist and fan. We made Tidal for fans."

Tidal was launched by Scandinavian company Aspiro in October 2014, and was acquired by Jay Z's company Project Panther in March 2015.

The service was relaunched on 30 March at a news conference featuring the multimillionaire co-owners of the service.

The artists announced that they wanted to "change the status quo" and "forever change the course of music history".

But some artists have been critical of the service.

Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard said: "I think they totally blew it by bringing out a bunch of millionaires and billionaires and propping them up onstage and then having them all complain about not being paid."