Beyonce’s husband, aging rapper Jay Z, is feeling the pressure to save his struggling music streaming app Tidal.
Adding to the rapper’s increasing anxiety was the mounting pressure to cut a deal with Sony Records to continue streaming the music giant’s catalogue of artists, including his wife. But strapped for cash, Jay Z didn’t have the millions of dollars Sony required.
Scrambling for an answer, Jay Z begged his wife to step in and speak to the bosses at Sony. A reluctant Beyonce agreed. In a last minute reprieve, Sony Records gave Jay Z more time to come up with the money.
In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, Sony’s rep denied a hit piece by Bloomberg Business that Sony was threatening to pull Bey’s music.
“Jay Z is a friend and business associate for many years. I have always admired his business acumen, his entrepreneurship and his passion for music. All of our content, including Beyoncé, is available through the Tidal service, and we have announced no plans to remove our catalog from Tidal. Like all of our other partners, we are rooting for Jay and Tidal to succeed.”
Sony’s statement benefits everyone; it makes Jay Z look like the shrewd businessman he pretends to be, and gets more positive press.
But insiders whisper that behind closed doors, Sony is reminding Jay Z that business is business — and Sony is not running a charity organization.
Unlike water, music is not free. Jay Z can’t stream Sony’s catalogue of artists indefinitely because the other artists will revolt if they don’t start receiving royalties from Tidal. Sony is quietly giving Jay Z a few more months to show them the money or Sony will begin quietly pulling their artists from the app.
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