Apr 18, 2016
On Monday, April 18, a man sued Kanye West and TIDAL for "duping" fans into having to pay for a subscription to the music streaming service.
A story, originally reported by the AP, and then by Pitchfork, states that Justin Baker-Rhett has filed a class-action lawsuit against the pop-culture icon and the struggling streaming company.
According to the stories, Kanye West's capricious tweets are being used as evidence that the listeners were misled.
"Mr. West's promise of exclusivity also had a grave impact on consumer privacy," reads the lawsuit.
The AP story also reported that "the lawsuit contends the value of new subscribers and their personal information could be as much as $84 million for Tidal."
TIDAL offers a 30-day free trial, which many fans of Kanye West took advantage of to listen to the album. However, once the trial ends, the listener's card (which must be put on file when registering for the free trial), starts getting charged $9.99, or $19.99 depending on which version of the service he or she chose when registering.
Listeners did all this in hopes to get a listen of the album that Yeezy said wouldn't be available any other way, an album that began streaming for free on Apple Music and Spotify a month-and-a-half after he said it would only be on TIDAL.
"We fully support the right of artists to express themselves freely and creatively, however creative freedom is not a license to mislead the public," Baker-Rhett's attorney Jay Edelson wrote in a statement. (Via AP)
Photo: TheFourOhFive.com
