NORWAY (CelebrityAccess) – It’s been a rough few days for TIDAL, but it looks like things are only getting worse.
Earlier this week, Norwegian newspaper, Dagens Næringsliv, made some explosive accusations claiming that the streaming service had deliberately and drastically manipulated its streaming numbers, specifically in relation to its two biggest albums, Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Kanye West’s The Life Of Pablo.
While TIDAL unequivocally denied the claims, calling them a “smear campaign” and vowing to fight them “vigorously,” this is not the first time the company’s practices have been called into question.
Today, the paper produced proof that TIDAL is also significantly behind on royalty payments owed “directly to the three major international record companies”.
In the article, Propellor Records and Sony-owned Phonofile both go on record to substantiate the claims: “It is correct that there are delays in payments from Tidal.” – Sveinung Rindal, CEO of Phonofile / head of The Orchard in Norway.
Since the original report – which included forensic analysis of TIDAL’s data by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s Center for Cyber and Information Security – was published last Wednesday, concerns have bubbled up throughout the industry. Norwegian collection society Tono, which represents around 30,000 songwriters, has already filed an official police complaint against TIDAL, while Danish collection society Koda recently announced it will be undertaking an independent audit of TIDAL data.
We will update this piece as more information becomes available.
[The above article was compiled using translations of DN’s latest story made by MBW.]
