Beyoncé and Jay-Z's newest release shows how Apple Music has tipped the streaming scale

It’s all about the numbers.

- Michael Simon

At 5:30 pm EDT on Saturday, June 16, the Tidal high-fidelity music streaming service was suddenly the center of attention. Just weeks after Kanye West dropped his Ye album on all streaming services—underscoring the dissolution of his once-exclusive contract with Tidal— Jay-Z and Beyoncé shocked the world with a surprise collaborative record titled. Everything Is Love. And the only place you could get it was Tidal.

Somewhat surprisingly, that exclusivity didn’t last very long. While other high-profile albums have enjoyed Tidal exclusivity for weeks or, in the case of Beyoncé’s Lemonade, years, Everything Is Love had a stint that lasted about 36 hours. By the time people were looking for some music to play on their Monday morning commute, Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s new record was available for streaming on Apple Music (go.macworld.com/amel) and Spotify Premium (go.macworld.com/elsp; available for free on Spotify on July 2) and the only thing exclusive to Tidal was an outtake track.

And that’s probably the last bit of noise you’ll hear from Tidal. There was a time when a new album by Jay-Z or Beyoncé (let alone both) would cause the music service’s sign-up to swell, but after reports of missed payments, high debt, and canceled contracts, Tidal is so underwater, even an album from two of the biggest artists in rap and R&B can’t save it.

TIDAL WAVE