Earlier today, we reported that TIDAL had been accused of inflating streaming stats for Beyonce and Kanye West. Hundreds of millions of false plays for superstars were reported to the trades, according to a study of leaked Tidal data by a Norwegian newspaper.
Now Tidal is responding to the charges:
“This is a smear campaign from a publication that once referred to our employee as an ‘Israeli Intelligence officer’ and our owner as a ‘crack dealer.
We expect nothing less from them than this ridiculous story, lies and falsehoods.
The information was stolen and manipulated and we will fight these claims vigorously.”
The quotes reference Tidal COO/Roc Nation executive Lior Tibon and Jay-Z respectively.
But despite the denials, where there is smoke there may still be fire. TIDAL has never explained who a music service with 3 million subscribers streamed Kanye West’s “Pablo” 250 million times in 10 days. That’s more than 8 times per user per day, every day for 10 days. Or how Beyonce’s “Lemonade” got 306 million plays in 15 days or almost 7 daily plays per Tidal user.
MORE: TIDAL Inflated ‘Hundreds Of Millions’ Beyoncé, Kanye Streams [Report]