Prince’s Estate Is Suing Jay Z For Shady Music Streaming
Jay Z already has a pretty big pile of lawsuits sitting on his desk in his office at Tidal HQ. There are lawsuits from artists who claim they haven’t been paid by Tidal and a lawsuit that Jay Z was reportedly going to file against Tidal’s former owners. Now Page Six is saying that he’s in possession of a lawsuit from the late Prince’s estate for allegedly doing Prince dirty, business-wise, after his death.
Prince’s NPG Records filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Jay Z and Tidal in Minneapolis yesterday. NPG Records alleges that Prince’s music was streamed on Tidal without permission after his death in April. They claim that Prince only gave permission to Roc Nation (Jay Z’s entertainment company) to stream songs on Tidal from one of his albums. About six weeks after Prince caused Heaven to become 10000% sexier, NPG noticed that songs like Purple Rain, Little Red Corvette, and 1999 were available to stream on Tidal.
NPG Records wants Tidal to stop streaming Prince’s work immediately. They also want damages. Uh oh, who wants to be the person to let NPG know that if it’s money they’re after, they’ve felt up the wrong wallet. Roc Nation filed papers in a court last week stating that Prince signed off on a streaming deal before he passed.
Normally I’d cross myself several times and pray for the soul of anyone who dares to poke at the Beyhive by coming for Beyonce’s husband. But this might be the first time in recent history that they retract their stingers and mind their own beysiness. Screwing over Prince in any capacity should be considered a federal crime. But to do it while he’s no longer here to give you two side-eyes for it? Roc Nation better be telling the truth when they say they got Prince’s ok first. Otherwise I think Jay Z might have just bought himself a one-way ticket to Lucifer’s waiting room.
Pic: Splash