Jay-Z’s Tidal sued for $5 million

Rapper Jay-Z’s subscription-based music streaming service ‘Tidal’ is being sued for $5 million for reportedly not paying independent artistes proper royalties and for violating copyright.

John Emanuele from the music group American Dollar and its indie label Yesh Music Publishing filed the lawsuit against Tidal and Hov’s Shawn Carter Enterprises over the weekend, reports aceshowbiz.com.

They claimed that the streaming service had licensed at least 118 of American Dollar’s songs without permission and had not paid the group any royalties for streaming on those songs. “Different owner, same game,” read the lawsuit filed in New York federal court.

They alleged that Tidal’s library was made “by dumping all of the music from independent artistes into” the service without filing proper notices. “Independent artistes are predominantly impacted by defendants’ systematic infringement,” they explained, further accusing Tidal of “deliberately miscalculating the per-stream royalty rates”.

Tidal has responded to the claims by Emanuele and Yesh Music Publishing. In a statement on Monday, it said it was “up to date on all royalties” owed to Yesh Music, LLC.