HOT: Jay Z Stands Up to Tidal Haters
Things still don’t seem to be going too well for superstar-backed streaming service Tidal, with criticism from users and others (including artists) continuing, investor Kanye West yanking his promo tweets (he now appears to be back to promoting it though) and figurehead Jay Z taking to Twitter to defend it with some (alleged) #TIDALFACTS. Mr. Z basically said it will take time to grow, the service is doing really well and all the hate is a result of a big-money campaign launched by other unnamed media ventures. The best part, though, was the launch of parody account @FakeTIDALFacts, which presented such tidbits as “Fancy by Iggy Azalea is now the most streamed song on Tidal. We will be undergoing maintenance to resolve this issue” and “Royalty rates have reportedly doubled for those involved. Artists receive $0.0000000002 per stream instead of $0.0000000001.”
WARM: Concert Concerns Ruled Dumb
A judge in New Jersey recently ruled on a father’s attempt in a divorce/custody battle to paint his daughter’s mother as a monster for taking the then-11-year-old to her first concert. The controversial musical act the mom allegedly exercised bad parental discretion by taking her kid to see? Pop star Pink, who mostly writes empowering songs, has hair that looks like cotton candy and flies around arenas in a harness like Peter Pan in fishnets. The judge wrote an extensive response to the dad’s claims, offering an overview of “controversial” artists in Rock history, quoting from some of Pink’s more uplifting lyrics and stating the obvious — that the daughter’s attendance “did not subject (her) to any unreasonable risk of harm, or compromise (her) health, safety or welfare.”
COLD: No Tyler at Target
Major music (and diaper and Christmas decorations and dish soap and candles) retailer Target is finicky about what CDs it sells, but unlike WalMart, it has nothing to do with “questionable content.” Although the store’s primary music consumers are impulse buyers or older people afraid of independent shops and computers, Target still thinks the Internet cuts into its sales and won’t carry any album that is released digitally before it’s available physically. Tyler, the Creator is the latest to be punished for using modern technology; Target won’t carry the Hip Hop star’s new album, Cherry Bomb, because it was on iTunes a week early. By his all-caps, comma-free tweet, Tyler seems miffed, though he wisely wrote, “THATS FUCKING STUPID, ITS 2015.”
