Jay Z suggests Apple’s Jimmy Iovine tried to lure artists from Tidal

beats audio jimmy

Following the re-launch of Tidal on Monday, now music streaming boss Shawn “Jay Z” Carter suggested in an interview with Billboard that Apple’s Jimmy Iovine had been trying to lure artists from the new service.

“I think that’s just his competitive nature, and I don’t know if he’s looking at the bigger picture: That it’s not about me and it’s not about him; it’s about the future of the music business,” Jay Z told the music-focused publication.

Jay Z was responding to rumors that Iovine, who heads Beats at Apple, was “trying to lure people from your first-tier group by offering them more money upfront.”

Apple is rumored to launch a music streaming to compete with Spotify, RDIO, and now Tidal, and there’s been word Iovine wants exclusive albums to be the center of Apple’s service. It’s the same premise that Tidal talked about at its unveiling yesterday.

Even with its competition, Jay Z thinks Apple will do great things in the space: “My thing with Jimmy is, ‘Listen, Jimmy; you’re Jimmy Iovine, and you’re Apple, and truthfully, you’re great. You guys are going to do great things with Beats, but … you know, I don’t have to lose in order for you guys to win, and let’s just remember that.’ Again, I’m not angry. I actually told him, ‘Yo, you should be helping me. This is for the artist. These are people that you supported your whole life. You know, this is good.'”

Tidal was re-launched on Monday at a star-studded media event in New York City. Jay Z’s version of Tidal will have two subscription tiers: $10 per month for a compressed format and $20 per-month for CD-quality streams. There is no free, ad-supported membership like offered by other services. Tidal offers more than 25 million tracks and apps across all systems, including the web.

Source: Billboard