Prince Estate Calls Out Tidal

Prince pulled his music from Spotify and Apple Music in 2015, but left his music on Tidal, and gave a number of public statements supporting the company. He and the company also reportedly hammered out a deal for his 2015 album Hit N Run Phase One to premiere on the service for $750,000.

Several months after Prince’s death Tidal released 15 albums previously not available for streaming. Prince’s estate says that those 15 albums were released without permission and there is no record of the artist receiving the promised payment for the exclusive release of Hit N Run.

On a related note, Roc Nation, Tidal’s parent company, filed for exclusive rights to Prince’s music in a Minnesota court Nov. 11.

The claim is based on an agreement Jay Z and Prince supposedly made before Prince’s death.

This filing comes in light of Universal Music’s announcement that it is the sole publisher of Prince’s catalog, having reached an agreement with Prince’s estate.

Tidal finished $28 million in the red for 2015 and consistently lags behind Spotify and Apple Music’s subscription numbers in what is becoming an increasingly competitive online streaming environment.