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Tidal Number 1 On iTunes App Store Thanks To Kanye West’s Exclusive New Album

By Val Powell
Published on: 22:16 PST, Feb 14, 2016

Tidal has taken the number one spot on the iTunes App Store after getting exclusive rights to Kanye West’s latest album called The Life of Pablo.

West thanked his supporters via Twitter for signing up on Tidal, just before announcing that the streaming site is now the “number one app in the world.”

The Life of Pablo was initially supposed to be available for streaming on Tidal and on West’s website. However, West announced on Twitter yesterday that he was taking down the album from his website, and giving Tidal the exclusive rights to stream his music, despite criticisms that it is not beneficial to release music on said streaming site.

He asked “all music lovers” to subscribe to Tidal and informed them that he has decided not to sell his album for another week. This could mean that West won’t be releasing his album on iTunes or even Spotify soon, in hopes of attracting more subscribers. As a result, West’s music can only be heard on Tidal.

His tweet seemed to have persuaded many of his millions of supporters to use the application because within 24 hours, the streaming site reportedly became the number one downloaded app on iTunes.

In another tweet, the rapper announced that he needs to fix one of his songs called “Wolves.” It is probably one of the reasons the talented rapper wanted to hold off on the release of his album on other streaming sites.

The version of the track “Wolves” in the The Life of Pablo features the talented Frank Ocean’s vocals, while the original version features vocals from Vic Mensa and singer-songwriter Sia. The rapper-songwriter may be thinking of including Sia and Mensa onto the track, which is why he wanted to fix it.

West is not the only artist to give Tidal exclusive rights to stream their music. Rihanna and Beyoncé both used the streaming site to launch their recent tracks before other streaming services.

Rihanna released her album Anti on Tidal, and it reportedly came with a free download without requiring a credit card number. However, West is not mentioning any similar promo with the streaming site, which costs $9.99 or $19.99 a month, depending on the subscription of the user.

Why did West choose to launch his music exclusively on Tidal? Aside from the fact that the streaming service app is partly owned by friend and fellow artist, Jay-Z, West also revealed that the company is funding “a lot of his scripted content ideas,” which means the exclusivity agreement could be part of a larger deal between the rapper and Tidal.

Although Tidal is not as large as iTunes at the moment, if it can continue to snag exclusive deals like West’s The Life of Pablo album, it may eventually catch up with iTunes and Spotify.

West debuted his new album at Madison Square Garden on February 11, together with his New York Fashion Week Show, Yeezy Season 3. The famous rapper reportedly charged for tickets at the fashion event and for its live-streaming, even though New York Fashion Week shows are normally free of charge.

His decision to charge for his fashion show and his appeal to his fans to subscribe to Tidal may be connected to his alleged financial troubles. West recently tweeted that he still has $53 million dollars in personal debt. The rapper also asked for prayers so he may overcome his financial crisis. In another tweet, he asked Facebook owner, Mark Zuckerberg, to invest $14 billion in his ideas.

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]

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