O rapper Jay Z, overnight, decided to remove all his discography from the Apple Music. And here’s an explanation: don’t confuse Apple Music (music service streaming of music from Ma) with iTunes Store (online store where we can purchase individual tracks, complete albums, video clips and more). The singer's songs are still there, available to anyone who wants to purchase them. But just do a simple search for "Jay Z" on Apple Music to see that the artist is listed on tracks / albums in which he does some kind of participation (that is, compositions by other artists).
As everything is still very recent, it is not clear what motivated Shawn Corey Carter (real name of rapper) to make this decision; what is known that he is one of the owners of the music service TIDAL, competitor of Apple Music. As there have been several conflicts between TIDAL and Apple (accusations of threats with prosecution, unfair competition, etc.), the first thing that comes to mind would be a possible retaliation by Jay Z. But the question comes: why just now?
@PinoyBroski Hi there! We can confirm that some of Jay Z's catalog has been removed at the request of the artist / LP
– SpotifyCares (@SpotifyCares) April 7, 2017
Hi! We can confirm that some (songs) from Jay Z's catalog have been removed at the request of the artist / LP.
What weighs against this is the fact that many of Jay Z’s songs are also outside of Spotify (currently the biggest streaming market music).
Other artists who own a slice of TIDAL (such as Kanye West, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Daft Punk, Jack White, Madonna, Arcade Fire, Alicia Keys, Usher and Calvin Harris) continue to offer their work on both Apple Music and Spotify; Beyonc, Jay Z's wife, ditto (although the music video for the track "Die With You" exclusive to TIDAL).
Apple, Universal Music Group and Roc Nation (music label on which Jay Z co-founder) have yet to comment on the episode.
Despite the fights between TIDAL and Apple, recent rumors spoke of the possibility of Ma acquiring the rival service, something that was quickly denied by Jimmy Iovine (one of the heads of Apple Music).
(via MacRumors)
Update · 04/10/2017 s 12:03
The discography of rapper reappeared today on Apple Music with the exception of the albums "Reasonable Doubt" and "The Blueprint", which were previously unavailable. On Spotify, however, the absence continues.
