Kanye West might be done with giving his music exclusively to a streaming service, TMZ has learned.
According to TMZ’s sources, Kanye doesn’t want to enter any new exclusive album release contracts with streaming services for any of his upcoming albums. The source claims he wants to avoid what happened with Tidal, which had a limited window on Tidal before being available on its competitors, including Spotify, Apple Music, and Google Play.
The news comes after another report that West is splitting with Tidal over a money dispute. If ‘Ye decides to go to another streaming service, both parties could face possible legal action.
In the event that Kanye does drop new music—whether a single or TurboGrafx 16—he wants to make it available on all music platforms so it can reach the most people. Looking back, Kanye’s The Life of Pablo rollout was pretty messy, resulting in him removing the album from Tidal to re-work tracks, add a few more, and tinker with its mastering. Although it was an exclusive stream, it wasn’t available for purchase or download, causing an uptick in piracy.
Reps for Def Jam did not immediately respond to Complex’s request for comment. But if this is the wave Kanye is on now, it'll be interested to see how it affects his relationship with Jay Z moving forward.
