
Music streaming services Apple Music and TIDAL are big time rivalries, with both having big name artists supporting the two companies. Popular rapper Lil Wayne recently hosted a Hurricane Katrina benefit show in which TIDAL did a live stream on. Apparently when Drake took the stage and performed, it was cut and paused with a message from the company claiming Apple was "interfering with artistry" and banned streaming of the popular artist.
TIDAL took to Twitter to make a similar claim, but it has been reported that this was not true. Although Drake had an exclusive contract with Apple for his new album, the Cupertino-based company did not stop the artist from streaming any live performances. According to BuzzFeed, Apple indeed had nothing to do with the ban in Drake’s performance and it was all on the artist’s manager. Drake’s manager Future the Prince told BuzzFeed News:
The decision to not have Drake participate in the Tidal steam has nothing to do with Apple or Drake’s deal. Point blank, 100%. 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.
We have all the email receipts and written correspondence that took place with said, blocked performance. That being said we choose to keep it classy.
Source: BuzzFeed News, Twitter
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