The rapper is facing legal action after allegedly
failing to abide by his 'exclusivity promise'
After a long wait and multiple name changes, most of
us were relieved when Kanye West finally released his latest album, The Life Of
Pablo.
The rapper initially told fans that his eight studio
album would ONLY be available to listen to on Jay Z's Tidal - forcing fans to
suscribe.
Fans were left unimpressed when he later went back
on his word and one is now reportedly SUING the star.
According to USA Today, Justin Baker-Rhett claims he
was tricked into signing up to streaming service Tidal because it was the only
way to buy Kanye's new album.
Chicago law firm Edelson PC has filed the
class-action lawsuit on behalf of the fan and is also calling for damages and
the deletion of subscribers' personal data.
In February, Kanye tweeted: "My album will
never never never be on Apple. And it will never be for sale… You can only get
it on Tidal."
However, a month later the album was released on
rival streaming website, Spotify, as well as iTunes, Pandora, Google Play, and
Kanye's own website.
Baker-Rhett claims the exclusivity promise was just
a fraudulent ploy to add millions of subscribers to a struggling Tidal.
In a statement, Mr Baker-Rhett's attorney, Jay
Edelson, said: "We fully support the right of artists to express
themselves freely and creatively, however creative freedom is not a licence to
mislead the public.
"We believe that we will be able to prove to a
jury that Mr West and Tidal tricked millions of people into subscribing to
their services and that they will ultimately be held accountable for what they
did."
According to reports, he has also claimed the scheme
tripled Tidal's subscriber base to three million, boosted its value by $60m
(£42m) to $84m (£58m) and threatened fans' privacy by forcing them to turn over
credit card and other personal information.
Baker-Rhett's is trying to turn his case against
West and Tidal into a class action - where people who subscribed to Tidal
between 15 February and 1 April can claim they're in the same position.
The new action comes after Rihanna's old publicist
slams the streaming service as an "embarrassment".
Record producer Jonathan Hay, who worked with RiRi
in 2005, says that being part of the subscription-only streaming site is
destroying the legacy of popular artists.
And he claims that Rihanna was “upset” when her
latest album Anti sold just 460 copies in the first week after it was given
away for free by Tidal.
Kanye West also saw his album The Life Of Pablo fail
to chart when it was first released on the streamer.
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