Apple Music is crying foul against Tidal.
BuzzFeed News is reporting that Apple did not threaten Tidal with a $20 million suit over Drake’s performance at a Hurricane Katrina benefit, despite a claim from the streaming service earlier.
It sounds like semantics after you read the explanation for the blocked streaming.
If New Orleans became the frontline of the battle for streaming music supremacy this week, it had very little to do with Apple. The Cupertino company did not threaten to sue Jay Z’s Tidal over Drake’s appearance at Lil Wayne’s Lil WeezyAna Fest, a charity concert to benefit kids affected by Hurricane Katrina. And it played no apparent role in Drake’s exclusion from Tidal’s livestream of the event — despite Tidal’s claims that it did.
Drake’s decision not to participate in Tidal’s live stream of the Lil Weezyana Festival was precisely that — Drake’s decision. And sources familiar with the situation tell BuzzFeed News that Apple did not threaten Tidal with any legal action whatsoever — let alone one with $20 million in liabilities attached to it. “No one even knew this was going on until the Post piece hit,” one of the sources said, adding that it’s not even within Apple’s power to file such a suit.
Drake’s management further entailed what went on.
“The decision to not have Drake participate in the Tidal steam has nothing to do with Apple or Drake’s deal,” Drake’s manager Future The Prince told BuzzFeed News. “Point blank, 100 percent. I made a business decision. Apple doesn’t have the power to stop us from being part of a live stream. The only people that have the power to do that are Cash Money and Universal, and they’re our partners.”
“I don’t understand,” Future said. “If you’re going to say something about the situation publicly, you should tell the truth. They saw the opportunity to take a situation and spin it in their favor as a publicity stunt.”
Blocking Tidal or having an agreement with Drake all sounds like the same thing to me.