Kanye West is known for his outrageous tweets. But one, in particular, might land him and Tidal in legal trouble.
Back when The Life of Pablo dropped, 'Ye went to Twitter to tell his followers the album "will never never never be on Apple. And it will never be for sale...You can only get it on Tidal." However, six weeks later, the album was no longer exclusive to Tidal since it was made available on Spotify and Apple.
But before it hit other streaming platforms, several people subscribed to Tidal with the belief that this would be the only way to hear Ye's seventh album. This includes Justin Baker-Rhett, who filed the lawsuit through his lawyer in 2016. Ye's lawyers tried to dismiss the claims with the argument that the rapper "updated and remixed [the album] numerous times, with different vocals, lyrics, and arrangements." So the album released on other streaming platforms weren't technically the same exact album, therefore, the Tidal one was exclusive.
But the judge wasn't having it. In a recent ruling, obtained by Pitchfork, the judge ruled: "Mr. West’s argument is tenuous, and certainly does not pass muster in the context of a motion to dismiss."
Baker-Rhett's lawyer, Jay Edelson, also gave a statement on the case not getting dismissed.
"The defendants made a bunch of arguments to get the case thrown out but the court accepted our core premise: what we alleged constitutes consumer fraud," Edelson told Pitchfork. "The court wants us to amend our pleadings and, based on how it decided certain issues, we won’t easily be able to have one nationwide class. That means that we will be bringing a bunch of state-by-state class actions. This is a bit of a 'be careful what you wish for' situation for the defendants." He also added that this will give him the opportunity to depose Kanye.
