It’s been two years since Jay Z‘s back catalogue of music
mysteriously vanished from Spotify. Actually, it wasn’t that mysterious. It was in 2017 when the hip-hop star was making a big push to boost his own music streaming platform, Tidal. But today, on his 50th birthday, Jay Z’s library makes a surprise return to his competitor.
There was no official statement from the rapper at the time the news arrived on midnight Wednesday morning. Just a tweet from Spotify that welcomed him back to the service.
In a joint album released by Jay Z and wife Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Everything Is Love, which hit Spotify and Apple Music two days after dropping on Tidal in 2018, Queen Bey sang on the track “NICE,” “If I gave two f—s about streaming numbers/Would have put Lemonade up on Spotify.” (Lemonade did eventually arrive on Spotify three years after its initial debut.) Jay Z similarly dinged the company via rap in 2015, but as the music streaming landscape changes, apparently times change too.
In 2016, Tidal touted a subscriber base of 3 million users, but the service’s growth seems to have stunted, especially as rival company’s continue to dominate the playing field. Tidal hasn’t reported any user figures since 2016 and a Norwegian newspaper, one that Tidal denounced, once claimed that 3 million number was really more like 850,000. This latest move from Jay Z raises further questions about the current status of Tidal.
Happy birthday, Hov ????
— Spotify (@Spotify) December 4, 2019
Welcome back to Spotify.https://t.co/exr5QGgwCK pic.twitter.com/t7l4H5zn6E
