Drake Cameo at Lil Wayne Fest Creates Apple, Tidal Friction

The cold war between music streaming services heated up Friday night as a surprise collaboration between Drake andLil Wayne – two rappers scooped up during the artist exclusive arms race – caused friction between Tidal and Apple Music. The situation occurred at Lil Wayne's Lil Weezyana Festival in New Orleans, where Drake stopped by to deliver a brief three-song cameo. One problem: Jay Z's Tidal, which named Lil Wayne as a co-owner in July, was livestreaming the festival, creating a conflict of interest since Drake is Apple Music's marquee signee.
Is Apple Taking Over the Music Business?
As a result of Drake's appearance, the Tidal live-stream had to briefly pause while the Toronto rapper was onstage. "Apple is interfering with artistry and will not allow this artist to stream. Sorry for Big Brother’s inconvenience," the Tidal Twitter notified listeners as Drake took the stage. "We'll be back after the performance." Drake performed "HYFR" with Wayne, his remix of Fetty Wap's "My Way" and "Back to Back" during his unannounced Lil Weezyana appearance.
However, contrary to a New York Post story earlier in the day, Drake's manager Future the Prince denied Tidal's claims that Apple Music acted as "Big Brother." "The decision to not have Drake participate in the Tidal stream has nothing to do with Apple or Drake's deal," Future the Prince told BuzzFeed. "Point blank, 100 percent. 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." As for why they elected to withhold Drake from the livestream, the rapper's manager said, "Aesthetics and quality are important to us and we didn't have any control over [the livestream] or time to investigate it."
Representatives from Tidal did not respond to Rolling Stone's request for comment, while an Apple representative referred Rolling Stone to the BuzzFeed article.
Lil Weezyana: Rolling Stone's Best Photos
After months of sparring with his longtime label Cash Money Records, Lil Wayne aligned with Tidal to release his Free Weezy Album on July 4th. The LP's arrival prompted Cash Money to file a $50 million lawsuit against Jay Z's high-quality streaming service, claiming they still had exclusive rights to Wayne's output. Cash Money added that Lil Wayne's Tidal partnership was "a desperate and illegal attempt to save their struggling streaming service."
Drake, meanwhile, signed an exclusive deal with Apple Music reportedly with $19 million. As part of the agreement, Drake hosts his own Beats 1 radio show as well as provides the service unique content, like the "Energy" music video. Drake was also on hand to speak about the new music service when Apple announced their new streaming endeavor in early June.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vera Wang to design Lady Gaga’s wedding dress

Image
(Vera Wang to design Lady Gaga’s wedding dress. Photo: Shemazing) Lady Gaga , who is preparing to tie the knot with  Chicago Fire  actor,  Taylor Kinney , reportedly reached out to her fashion designer pal,  Vera Wang , to ask her to create her dream wedding dress. A source told Life & Style magazine: ‘She trusts Vera to create an elegant, flowy dress that will fit into her dream wedding!’ The designer has previously created custom-made gowns for a number of other celebrities including Khloé Kardashian ,  Alicia Keys ,   Mariah  Carey  and Nigerian singer,  Tiwa Savage . (Lady Gaga is preparing to tie the knot with ‘Chicago Fire’ actor, Taylor Kinney. Photo: AP) The couple, who got engaged last Valentine’s Day on  February 14  after four years of dating , are planning to exchange vows in a ‘relaxed beach wedding’ this summer at the 29-year old singer’s $23 million mansion in Malibu, California.
Read more

Jeff Bezos Remains World Wealthiest As His Fortunes Hits $172 Billion

Image
Jeff Bezos’ wealth has hit a new high following a recent rise in Amazon’s stock value. Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, is now worth $172 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie took 25 percent of his shares, which meant at the time her stake was worth more than $35 billion, according to Forbes. However, 56-year-old Bezos remained the wealthiest person on the planet after the settlement and his wealth has continued to soar amid the coronavirus pandemic. Bezos’ company, Amazon has been doing particularly well in recent months with the increased demand for online shopping de to the Coronavirus pandemic. As a result, the company’s share prices has increased. According to Comparisun, Bezos is on track to be the world’s first trillionaire by 2026.
Read more

It's been 25 years since Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait

Image
A quarter century ago, after Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army successfully invaded and took over the tiny Persian Gulf nation of Kuwait, President George H.W. Bush famously drew a line in the sand against Iraqi aggression. While the United States and its allies easily ejected Iraq from Kuwait within seven months of the Aug. 2, 1990, invasion, Bush's line has continued onward in an almost Biblical fashion, accompanied by plenty of pre-modern horrors. The Gulf War begat the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which begat the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, which begat ISIS, which begat a potential future war with Iran or Syria or even what remains of Iraq. At the time, however, Bush said standing up to Hussein's Iraq was necessary to protect neighboring Saudi Arabia, a key US ally and the world's largest oil producing country, both then and now. "The sovereign independence of Saudi Arabia is a vital interest to the United States," said Bush, a Republican. O
Read more