According to West, “My album will never never never be on Apple. And it will never be for sale… You can only get it on Tidal.” This is an interesting move by West. Prior to this, Rihanna also made her album exclusive to Tidal but only as far as streaming is concerned. It was at least still available for purchase via iTunes.
However based on West’s tweet, it looks like it will not be available for purchase either, meaning that if you want to listen to it, you have to subscribe to Tidal, or at least take advantage of the free trial. The illegal alternative would be to pirate the album, which hilariously enough is what many Twitter users have been doing and tweeting proof to West.
Is this a smart move on his part? West is such a big name that we’re sure his album will do well even if it isn’t available on iTunes, Apple Music, or Spotify. In fact his initial tweet saw Tidal’s app rocket to the number one position in the App Store, so we have to say that we are curious as to how his album might have impacted Tidal’s subscription numbers.