Jay Z Albums No Longer Available On Spotify, Limited Albums On Apple Music

Rapper and business mogul, Jay Z, has removed all of his albums from Spotify, the free streaming service, making Tidal, which is owned by the rapper, the only streaming service where all of his albums are available.

At one point over the weekend, Jay Z had also removed all of his albums from Apple Music but several albums have since returned, including Magna Carter…Holy Grail, his most recent solo release.

Currently, the only songs with Jay Z verses on Spotify are collaborations with other rappers or singers, of which, Jay Z doesn’t own outright.

Jay Z founded Tidal in 2015 and marketed it as a streaming service that gave the artists their proper due, unlike Spotify, the industry leader, who gives artists a reduced cut if the listener does not have a paid subscription.

While Tidal’s investors have been heavy handed with both cash and star power – Kanye West, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Jack White, Usher, Nicki Minaj, Madonna, and Chris Martin were all early investors – the service hasn’t been able to keep up with its top competitors.

As of the most recent count, it is believed that Tidal has a little less than 3 million followers while Spotify has around 50 million and Apple Music has around 20 million.

While Jay Z has pulled his catalogue from Spotify, his wife doesn’t seem to have done the same. Nearly every Beyoncé album is available on Spotify except for her critically acclaimed, Lemonade, which was never available on the streaming service to being with.

Similarly, West’s catalogue remains undisturbed on Spotify. His most recent release, The Life of Pablo was initially only available on Tidal but it was soon made available on Spotify, albeit, once the hype had died down and final changes had been made.

While it is unclear if Jay Z will encourage his fellow musicians to transfer their catalogue over to Tidal, at the moment, it is unlikely his move alone with put Tidal on par with Spotify.