Kanye West has called out Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Tidal over their ongoing disagreement over exclusives.
The music artist took to Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR)’s microblogging platform to condemn the rivalry between Apple and Tidal, claiming that it has been affecting the music industry. There have been rumors that about acquisition talks between the two firms and Kanye’s rant suggest that there has not been any success in those talks. Music streaming services have been growing more popular. Allegedly, Apple has been particularly interested in an acquisition so that it can strengthen its position in the music industry.
Kanye is well known for initiating disagreement through social media, but this time, it seems is trying to avoid one. He posted on Twitter calling for a meeting between officials from the two music services. Kanye believes that the disagreements between the two firms have been negatively affecting the industry. The highly controversial artist believes that the only way to end the disagreements is for Apple to Acquire Tidal. This is because an acquisition would unify the two and there would, therefore, be no need to fight over exclusives.
The musician urged the two to grant fans access to music instead of concentrating so hard on exclusives so that they can try to keep up with Spotify which currently leads the space with roughly 30 million subscribers. Kanye’s album Life of Pablo and Lemonade by Beyoncé made their exclusive debut on Tidal and they gave the service a strong boost in terms of subscriptions.
Other acclaimed artists such as Pharrell Williams, Drake and Future have exclusive deals with Apple Music. This has led to a division, for example, Kanye and Drake have collaborated on various titles but the revenue has been an issue since they are in different camps. A successful acquisition deal between the two firms would help to overcome some of these challenges.