The Jay-Z-launched music-streaming service Tidal continues to take hits, as the numbers are in and the press heralds it as a "flop." After a strong debut, it dropped out of iTunes top 700 apps, reports the Los Angeles Times. Adding to Tidal's distress, one of its most vocal supporters (and a 3 percent owner), hip-hop superstar Kanye West has deleted all of his Tidal-related tweets, E! reports.
West was one of the artists who changed his Twitter avatar to a photo of the Tidal logo to promote the app's launch, and on March 30, the day the service debuted, he tweeted, "Together, we can turn the tide and make music history. Start by turning your profile picture blue. #TIDALforALL," E! notes. West has since replaced his avatar with the cover art from his album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy."
Since Tidal quickly dropped out of the iTunes Top 20, it has begun scrambling to make "seismic changes in an attempt to reboot," the LA Times reports, noting that it has already "cut loose CEO Andy Chen and replaced him with former Aspiro CEO Peter Tonstad, laid off 25 employees and is even having Jay and Jack White personally call subscribers on the phone."
"I believe in Tidal and what the team is doing to affect the change the music industry needs," Tonstad told the Swedish news site Breakit. "We're streamlining the company and refocusing our resources to ensure the platform continues to grow, and listeners can make a connection to their favorite artists. No one else is doing this."
Remarkably, Tidal's presence in the streaming marketplace is believed to have helped its rivals rather than hinder them.
"On 20 April, Pandora and Spotify occupied the number three and four positions - marking the first time two music streaming apps have placed in the top 4 simultaneously and knocking down the world-conquering Candy Crush in the process," reports The Independent. "Spotify's resurgence in the iPad chart began on the day of Tidal's launch ..., suggesting that in spite of its criticism of the app, Tidal ultimately just increased public awareness of Spotify."
Tidal was recently harshly criticized by some high-profile artists, like Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons and Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie.
