More bad news for TIDAL yesterday, as a judge has ruled that they will be unable to dodge yet another lawsuit, this time thanks to one of Kanye West's tweets.
According to Pitchfork, TIDAL is under fire for allegedly misleading its users into believing that TIDAL would be the only place that they would ever be able to hear Kanye's 2016 album, The Life of Pablo. U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Woods granted part of TIDAL's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, but allowed the case to move forward.
T.L.O.P. was available exclusively on TIDAL for six weeks, before making its appearance on Apple Music. While this is standard for album exclusives nowadays, at the time Kanye tweeted that Life of Pablo, "will never never never be on Apple. And it will never be for sale . . . You can only get it on Tidal."
Last year, Kanye tried to get the lawsuit dismissed, arguing that because the album was updated several times, the newer versions that were uploaded to other streaming services constitute a different product. The judge disagreed with that reasoning.
The lawsuit was filed by Justin Baker-Rhett, a self-described fan of Kanye's music, who felt that he was tricked into paying for Tidal in order to hear Kanye's album. One of Baker-Rhett's lawyer's, Jay Edelson, has been very pleased with the outcome of the proceedings so far.
"We now will have a chance to move on with this case, including deposing Kanye," Edelson said.
Maybe he should have just gotten the free trial like everyone else.