Singer Lily Allen Blasts Jay Z’s Tidal Streaming Service

Not everyone is in love with Jay Z’s new streaming service Tidal. One of those people is singer Lily Allen. While Jay Z got the support of some of the hottest names in business, including Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Chris Martin, Alicia Keys, Beyonce, and Kanye West, Allen is slamming the streaming service.

The service plans to charge music listeners money to listen to artists who are already on the market. It was announced that subscribers will have to pay $20 a month, which took many people by surprise.

According to E! Online, Lily Allen took issue with the fact that the service might make it harder for new and emerging artists to break through if other streaming services follow suit.

“My concern is that Tidal may set emerging artists back. Hosting exclusive [content] from the biggest stars on the planet on a paying platform, while I agree with its intention, I fear it will send people back to pirate/torrent sites.”

Another bit of information to emerge from the press conference is that Tidal will pass over 75 percent it makes from the subscription service to the record labels and not the actual artists themselves.

This seemed to fire Lily Allen up, as she tweeted, “Wow. so if you’re a Co owning artist you see a cut of the 25% profit, and let’s face it, probably a larger chunk of the 75% than most artists.”

Spotify, said to be one of Tidal’s biggest competitors, has been making waves due to artists like Taylor Swift pulling their whole discography from the app.

Of the issue, Allen said, “Spotify aren’t ripping artist off. I [heart] Spotify and streaming, but Tidal tried to sell themselves as being… different, ‘giving more to the artist,’ which may well be their long term plan… but actually, they’re denying people the freemium option, and giving more money to major labels.”

As for what Tidal is all about, Jay Z told Billboard, “People are not respecting the music, and devaluing what it really means. People really feel like music is free, but will pay $6 for water. You can drink water free out of the tap and it’s good water. But they’re okay paying for it. It’s just the mindset right now.”

What do you think about Lily Allen’s comments on Tidal? Do you think it will make it harder for new artists to break through the business structure?

[Photo by Stuart C. Wilson / Getty Images]