#ExclusivityBreedsPiracy: Why Exclusivity Should End

Hip-hop star and TIDAL owner Jay Z, in a surprise move, pulled his entire music catalogue from Apple Music and Spotify yesterday. With his significant other and TIDAL investor Beyonce's Lemonade already being an exclusive on the platform, I wouldn't say I am totally surprised at his new attempt to attract new subscribers. Granted Jay Z is not an artist I seek out per se, but I am sure there are listeners who would be upset about paying money for a streaming service like Apple Music and not being able to listen to his songs. The long and short is that streaming is the way to go, but these escalating music streaming wars are leaving a bitter taste in my mouth (Apple is equally responsible for this!). By restricting your music to one streaming service, are you expecting me to pay $10 each for Apple Music, Spotify, TIDAL, Amazon Music, Deezer, Pandora and Google Play Music? That ain't happening. Period.

Update: Most of Jay Z's catalogue has reappeared on Apple Music, although they continue to remain unavailable on Spotify.