YouTubeKanye West is no stranger to controversy – and this latest development is no exception.
A fan of the rapper is reportedly suing both Kanye and streaming service Tidal, reports Time.
The angry fan claims they conned users into subscriptions to the service on the promise of being the exclusive outlet for Kanye’s new album The Life Of Pablo (TLOP).
The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco by Justin Baker-Rhett, argues that Kanye falsely promised fans the album would be exclusively available on Tidal.
The site charges users at least $9.99 (£7) a month, but TLOP has since been released for free on both Apple Music and Spotify.
SpotifyAround two million people signed up following Kanye’s ‘promise’, streaming the album more than 250 million times within the first ten days of its release.
This gave the struggling site a much needed boost, along with a huge amount of personal information.
Baker-Rhett is now requesting that Tidal delete the information collected on users who signed up for West’s album.
FlickrThe lawsuit states: “Mr. West’s promise of exclusivity had a grave impact on consumer privacy.”
It also notes that the value of new subscribers and their personal information could be as much as $84 million (£58 million) to the company.
It also references a number of Twitter posts by Kanye including this one:
My album will never never never be on Apple. And it will never be for sale… You can only get it on Tidal.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
Baker-Rhett’s attorney wrote in a statement:
We support the right of artists to express themselves freely and creatively, however creative freedom is not a license to mislead the public.
We believe that we will be able to prove to a jury that Mr. West and Tidal tricked millions of people into subscribing to their services and that they will ultimately be held accountable for what they did.
There’s just never a dull moment is there…
