When Jay Z, launched Tidal, the big sale was all the artists on board would be owners of the company and receive 75 percent of the royalties made from each song. A bragging right, Mr. Carter made sure to make a point of. However, it appears as if Hov is being sued for the exact opposite of that. In a class-action lawsuit filed over the weekend Yesh Music Publishing and John Emanuele, one half the duo American Dollar are suing the streaming service company and Shawn Carter Enterprises for $5 million due to unpaid royalties and copyright infringement.
“Different owner, same game,” the lawsuit leveled against Jay Z claims. Emanuele alleges Tidal licensed nearly 118 songs without American Dollar’s permission and deliberately miscalculated the group’s per-stream royalty rates, along with failing to send monthly reports to the duo’s. In a statement to Vulture, Tidal, which just surpassed 1 million subscribers, said American Duo is misinformed, but has since removed the group’s songs from their streaming services.