‘The Life of Pablo’ Album Release Blunder May Keep Kanye Broke, But Make Tidal Rich


The Life of Pablo has been in constant evolution since the day fans found out about it. The Life of Pablo is Kanye West’s wish to carry fans through the process of making an album, whether he realizes it or not. During all the album name changes, the song changes, and the changes to the release date, The Life of Pablo gives music listeners an inside look into the struggles of a perfectionist.

Every music artist should be a perfectionist and really care for what they put out there in the world, making sure each detail is taken care of, and each song title is thought about even until the release date. In this case, though, the same approach to artistry as to business may have hurt album sales.

As Pigeons & Planes reports, it’s because Kanye decided The Life of Pablo would only be available for streaming via Tidal, despite fans having already pre-ordered a copy. And even the version on Tidal is still a work in progress. So there is an almost indefinite air about this album, and when a final version will be delivered. But Kanye also announced he will release more music on Tidal. He said he would give fans 40 songs of him and Kendrick Lamar, along with 40 songs of him and Young Thug. That just might be enough to compensate fans disappointed with the no download policy.

In order to catch a listen for free, you can watch Yeezy Season 3 to hear a bit, as long as it stays posted on the Tidal website homepage, or you can go for that free trial subscription offer. But Business Insider reveals you’ll only get a month free unless you register through Beyoncé’s Tidal website portal. In that case you’ll get three months free, enough time to listen to The Life of Pablo before the final version comes out, at this pace.

Tidal’s streaming music service, when initiated by Jay Z, was supposed to offer artists more control over their music. It was meant to be unlike other services that offer an artist mere pennies per stream. But a downside is that such control lead Kanye to change his mind about how he wants to release The Life of Pablo at the last minute. There are good things about this for an artist. He can continue to control what version of his songs fans can hear. He can take away the version he isn’t satisfied with and provide an update, constantly, in real time. If he released an official download or sold CDs, he wouldn’t be able to work like this. He couldn’t keep tweaking things.

But that hasn’t stopped the pirates. People who either want the download or don’t want to wait until Kanye decides The Life of Pablo is finalized have been downloading the album songs via other means. Over the past few days, 500,000 pirated downloads and counting continue to threaten the number of people who subscribed to Tidal to hear the album.

As The Inquisitr reports, besides the album release drama, Kanye is facing a revival of his Taylor Swift conflict. Swift gave Kanye a veiled threat during her Grammy acceptance speech for Album of the Year. This time around, Kanye wasn’t in the building, seemingly. Swift may have scared him away with her seething anger. Kanye has also been trying to reach out for donations, stating that he is $53 million in debt. It seems his fashion ventures have taken a toll on his pockets. But some say, by looking at his lifestyle, he isn’t really broke in a bad way. But if his approach to releasing music is as loose as the whole The Life of Pablo drama, he may really need to tighten his business sense.

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartMedia]

Share this article: ‘The Life of Pablo’ Album Release Blunder May Keep Kanye Broke, But Make Tidal Rich
More from Inquisitr