At 5:30 pm EDT on Saturday, the Tidal high-fidelity music streaming service was suddenly the center of attention. Just weeks after Kanye West dropped his Ye album on all streaming services—underscoring the dissolution of his once-exclusive contract with Tidal—Jay-Z and Beyoncé shocked the world with a surprise collaborative record titled Everything is Love. And the only place you could get it was Tidal.
Somewhat surprisingly, that exclusivity didn’t last very long. While other high-profile albums have enjoyed Tidal exclusivity for weeks or, in the case of Beyoncé’s Lemonade, years, Everything is Love had a stint that lasted about 36 hours. By the time people were looking for some music to play on their Monday morning commute, Beyoncé’s and Jay-Z’s new record was available for streaming on Apple Music and Spotify Premium (available for free on Spotify on July 2) and the only thing exclusive to Tidal was an outtake track.
