As if Tidal didn’t have enough problems with half the music industry criticizing it, now it looks like Apple has been actively sabotaging the iOS version of Jay Z’s controversial app in preparation for the release of its own music streaming service. While these are simply rumors, certain people are claiming that Apple deliberately took a long time to approve Tidal’s updates in order to lower the app’s position on the App Store’s top download charts.
Music-industry sources say Apple is interfering with Jay Z’s music-streaming service Tidal in an attempt to crush it ahead of the relaunch of Apple’s Beats Music, set for June. Last week it emerged that Tidal, following its March 30 launch, has fallen out of the iPhone top 700 apps. But positioning in the app charts is driven by downloads, and according to our source, Apple “deliberately took a long time to approve Tidal iOS app updates. Tidal had a new app on Android on April 15, but still hasn’t received approval for Apple’s iOS app store.” Robert Kondrk, vice president of iTunes Content, has also declared war on artists who sign up with Tidal. A source told us, “Robert told execs at Universal Music Group that Rihanna and other Tidal artists’ music would not be promoted as featured artists on iTunes if they put exclusive music out on Tidal.” The source added that after Rihanna’s song “American Oxygen” debuted on Tidal, there were technical problems with her music on iTunes. The source explained, “Rihanna’s songs were scrambled and were out of commission for periods of time.”
