Beyoncé sprung another surprise album on her fans this weekend, but for the foreseeable future, the only place to stream ‘Lemonade’ will be on Tidal.
Sources are telling tech sites The Verge and Mashable that the album “will be exclusively streaming on Tidal in perpetuity”, although Tidal is also selling it for $17.99 as an audio and video download to people who don’t want to subscribe to its streaming service.
Spotify has already responded with a sharply-worded statement from its head of comms and public policy Jonathan Prince.
“We believe long-term exclusives are bad for artists and they’re bad for fans,” he told Mashable. “Artists want as many fans as possible to hear their music, and fans want to hear the music they’re excited about – exclusives get in the way of both.”
Meanwhile, fans have responded in two ways: enough downloaded Tidal’s app to send it up nearly 200 places in the Top Free Apps in Apple’s US App Store.
However, ‘Lemonade’ is also topping other charts: the most popular album being shared on piracy sites like The Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents.
