Jay Z did more than most to avoid becoming part of the Spotify machine, but on his 50th birthday, HOV has finally given in.
Ask anyone to list the best rappers of all-time, and most will place Jay Z somewhere in the top 5. From “Hard Knock Life” to “Tom Ford” and countless songs in between, few artists have been as prolific or successful as Jay Z in the history of popular music. His catalog is vast, but until very recently (December 4), fans could only access most of his material through Tidal, the premium streaming service Jay – who also owns the platform – helped bring to the masses in 2015 and Apple Music.
Fans will recall Jay Z’s catalog being on Spotify once before. In April 2017, Hov’s music disappeared from the streaming service “at the request of the artist,” according to an official statement. Reasons for the return are not clear at this time, but you don’t need to be a financial analyst to understand the potential for additional income.
Jay Z’s reasons for starting Tidal were admirable. At the dawn of Spotify, Jay Z recognized that most of the investors behind the supposed ‘future of music consumption’ were people who had no direct involvement in music. The backers for the Spotify and Deezer and other streaming services were only interested in the money that could be made and not in the art they would use to make money. Tidal, which was initially backed by several significant artists, hoped to bring an artist-approved platform to the masses.
Tidal is still in existence today, but its userbase trails Spotify and Apple Music by a wide margin. Jay Z’s decision to upload his catalog to Spotify in honor of his 50th birthday is more of a smart business move than an act of secession. Jay Z recognizes that “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em’ is as relevant today as ever, and he understands the money to be made from adding his music to the world’s most popular platform for audio consumption.
Furthermore, I would wager Jay Z believes his biggest hits is different than the material marked as ‘popular’ by Spotify before uploading his full catalog. Check it out:
But what does this mean for Tidal? In the short term, probably nothing. Tidal’s chances of becoming the preferred method of music consumption by the world at large were always slim, and I don’t foresee Jay’s decision to join Spotify as something that will ultimately hurt the company. Tidal still has exclusive access to high-fidelity streams of Jay’s material, as well as event streaming capabilities that competing platforms have yet to offer.
It’s likely Jay’s decision is tied to an exclusive engagement contract he had with Tidal. His spouse and pop queen, Beyonce, ended a three-year exclusive streaming deal with Tidal for her album Lemonade in April of this year.
Until Jay Z comments on the change, feel free to revisit his essential tracks via the Spotify playlist below:
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