It’s never easy when a person decides to run their own business, but it can be rewarding. This is something Jay Z weighed out, many years ago, and decided to take the risk. Close to $500 million later, it was well worth it, even with the criticism.
Often, Jay Z faces criticism and backlash, but usually it comes from within the hip hop circle. But, in the business world, Jay Z is usually respected by all. The exception to the rule is TIDAL, which has been a critical failure, even though numbers are growing.
This afternoon, news broke of TIDAL being hit with a $5 million lawsuit over unpaid royalties. On behalf of Yesh Music, LLC and John Emanuele for the group, American Dollar, claiming TIDAL streamed 116 of their songs without payment. Now, TIDAL has released a statement over the accusations.
Read TIDAL’s statement below:
TIDAL is up to date on all royalties for the rights to the music stated in Yesh Music, LLC and John Emanuele’s claim and they are misinformed as to who, if anyone, owes royalty payments to them,” the statement says. “As Yesh Music, LLC admits in their claim, TIDAL has the rights to the Master Recordings through its distributor Tunecore and have paid Tunecore in full for such exploitations. Their dispute appears to be over the mechanical licenses, which we are also up to date on payments via Harry Fox Agency our administrator of mechanical royalties.
“The entire catalogue in question streamed fewer than 13,000 times on TIDAL and its predecessor over the past year,” it continues. “We have now removed all music associated with Yesh Music, LLC and John Emanuele from the service. This is the first we have heard of this dispute and Yesh Music, LLC should be engaging Harry Fox Agency if they believe they are owed the royalties claimed. They especially should not be naming S Carter Enterprises, LLC, which has nothing to do with Tidal. This claim serves as nothing other than a perfect example of why America needs Tort reform.”
Source: HipHopDX
