Kanye West says his new album will be a permanent Tidal exclusive

Kanye West has once again changed his release plans for The Life of Pablo, and this change will be pretty meaningful for listeners if he sticks to it: he says the album will only ever be available to Tidal subscribers. West had originally planned to stream the album exclusively on Tidal for a week while selling TLOP on his own site, later opening sales and streams up to everyone. The album was available to purchase for a matter of hours before West pulled the ability to purchase it on Sunday. He now says it won't be available to purchase at all or stream anywhere else — nor will any of his Good Fridays songs, which will also go up on Tidal.

Even with its parade of celebrity backers, Tidal has so far failed to gain much traction. But West's push over the past couple days appears to be working — at least for now. Tidal shot to the top of the App Store on Sunday after he made it the only way to listen to The Life of Pablo. Of course, Tidal is going to need people to stick around for longer than their free trial to make this exclusivity worthwhile; if West does continue to push out weekly tracks exclusive to Tidal, that could be a fantastic way to keep people on board. He's already teasing new songs featuring both himself and Kendrick Lamar.

My album will never never never be on Apple. And it will never be for sale... You can only get it on Tidal.

— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016

Also all Good Fridays songs will be on Tidal. Me and Kendrick got 40 songs and me and Young Thug got 40 songs. 40/40 club!!!

— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016