Lily Allen has launched a Twitter rant about Jay Z’s streaming service Tidal.
The musician unveiled the service earlier this week at a press conference, where he was joined onstage by stars including Kanye West, Beyoncé, Daft Punk, Chris Martin and Madonna.
Tidal is unique in the fact that artists who join the service see more return than with other streaming sites such as Spotify.
However, Lily was quick to make her views about Tidal clear via social media Thursday night.
"My concern is that Tidal may set emerging artists back," she tweeted. "Hosting exclusive [content] from the biggest stars on the planet on a paying platform, while I agree with its intention, I fear it will send people back to pirate/torrent sites."
Tidal had earlier revealed how artists on the service are rewarded for being part of their company, tweeting: “Around 75% of the monthly subscription is passed back to music labels etc who then distribute to artists & songwriters.”
But Lily said it was unfair that the main 16 co-owners of Tidal – Madonna, Kanye et al, nicknamed the Tidal 16 – would be making more money than other artists who sign up to the service later down the line.
"Wow, so if you're a Co owning artist you see a cut of the 25% profit, and let's face it, probably a larger chunk of the 75% than most artists (sic),” Lily continued.
Lily also took the opportunity to insist that Spotify, the streaming service from which Taylor Swift pulled her music earlier this year after citing lack of payment as her main reason for doing so, was a fairer company than Tidal.
"Spotify aren't ripping artist off (sic)," Lily wrote. "I [heart] Spotify and streaming, but Tidal tried to sell themselves as being...different, 'giving more to the artist,' which may well be their long term plan...but actually, they're denying people the freemium option, and giving more money to major labels.
"If I wanted to be relevant or as rich as the #Tidal 16, I wouldn't still be working in music. Or I would have shut up and played the game long ago."
