The muddled release of Kanye West's new album The Life of Pablo took a late twist over the weekend as a planned release on West's website failed to materialize, prompting the rapper to hold off for a week and granting the streaming service Tidal a period of exclusivity in the process.
West implored his fans and Twitter followers to subscribe to Tidal in the meantime:
Please for all music lovers. Please subscribe to tidal!!! I decided not to sell my album for another week. Please subscribe to tidal.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 14, 2016
And while it's unclear how many people are actually going to take the plunge and subscribe, West's plea appears to have given Tidal a boost: the app now ranks #1 on the overall iOS App Store charts for the first time. It's also currently #30 on "Top Grossing."
Man thank you so so so much everyone for signing up to Tidal. Tidal is now the number one app in the world!!! pic.twitter.com/O3r9DkX03R
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
Tidal is owned by Jay-Z, who introduced much of the world to West by tapping him for production on much of his seminal 2001 album The Blueprint. The streaming service has had a rocky and controversial launch, but who knows — maybe a little help from an old friend of Jay's could give it the push it needs.
West went on to say that Tidal is "also funding a lot of my scripted content ideas. It's a new day people. More Ultra Light Dreams to be realized," and perhaps more speculatively that he will win "over 100 Grammys before I die."
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