Apple Inc. Will “Never Never Never” Have My Album: Kanye West

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Apple users who are eagerly waiting for the newest album, The Life of Pablo, from their favorite pop singer Kanye West to release on iTunes, Apple Music or Spotify will be disheartened to know that the singer has stated that his album will never become available on Apple, nor it will be available for sale. Interested fans can get it only on Tidal.

Snatching from Apple, giving to Tidal

Tidal is a music streaming service owned by Jay Z, who happens to be a friend and mentor of West, and for this reason, West has made the album’s debut exclusive to the service. Tidal debuted late Saturday night and since then has been killing Apple’s App Store.

West previously announced plans to make The Life of Pablo exclusive to Tidal for only a week and then release it on other platforms. Now he is clearly indicating his intentions for not making the album available anywhere other than the new platform.

“[My] album will never never never be on Apple. And it will never be for sale… You can only get it on Tidal,” the singer tweeted.

West also pulled his digital downloads plans via Tidal at the last minute, leaving fans frustrated, and in addition, they didn’t get a download in return for the amount paid. This means that the album The Life of Polo can’t be downloaded legally, and it is not possible to stream it anywhere other than Tidal until West changes his mind again.

West and Swift: What’s the difference?

Previously, Taylor Swift made a similar decision of not releasing her album on Apple Music, but it was in protest to the iPhone maker’s decision of not paying royalties to artists, producers and labels for the three-month free trial period. The company reversed its stance later, after which Swift also allowed her new album to stream on Apple Music.

While Swift was trying to advance the cause of all musicians, it seems that Kanye is doing so for his own promotion. Along with ditching Apple, West also declared himself to be $53 million in debt and demanded bailout funds from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Larry Page. This does hint at a muddled state of mind.

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