Tidal Blame Apple for Blocking Drake’s Performance From Lil Wayne Festival Stream

Tidal Blame Apple for Blocking Drake’s Performance From Lil Wayne Festival Stream

Photo by Pooneh Ghana

Drake made a surprise appearance to close out Lil Wayne‘s Lil Weezyana Festival last night at New Orleans’ Champions Square. The whole thing streamed via Tidal, but it cut out when Drake took the stage. The streaming service reported that their competitor, Apple, blocked Drake’s performance from being streamed on Tidal.

Update (8/29, 3:15 p.m.): Despite Tidal’s tweets (below) claiming that Apple was responsible for pulling Drake’s performance from the stream, Drake’s manager Future the Prince told Buzzfeed that it was Drake’s decision to abstain from participating in the festival’s live stream. He said:

“The decision to not have Drake participate in the Tidal stream has nothing to do with Apple or Drake’s deal. … Point blank, 100%. I made a business decision. Apple doesn’t have the power to stop us from being part of a live stream. The only people that have the power to do that are Cash Money and Universal, and they’re our partners. …  We wanted to make sure the stream represented us in the right way, and we didn’t have much insight into what they were doing. Aesthetics and quality are important to us and we didn’t have any control over that or time to investigate it. We were just there to participate in the benefit.”

Future said that he didn’t understand why Tidal blamed Apple. “If you’re going to say something about the situation publicly, you should tell the truth,” he told Buzzfeed. “They saw the opportunity to take a situation and spin it in their favor as a publicity stunt.” 

According to The New York Post‘s Page Six, Apple reportedly threatened to sue for $20 million if Drake appeared on Tidal’s stream of the show. Drake reportedly has an exclusive agreement with Apple Music, while Wayne recently became one of the co-owners of Tidal. He performed three songs during the festival: “HYFR”, “My Way”, and “Back to Back”, MissInfo reports.

Update (8/29, 11:15 a.m.): Video of the festival has now surfaced, including Drake’s performance of “Back to Back”. Find video below via Mr. World Premiere/MissInfo.tv, and check out the full setlist here.

1/2 Apple is interfering with artistry and will not allow this artist to stream. Sorry for Big Brother’s inconvenience.

— TIDAL (@TIDALHiFi) August 29, 2015

2/2 We’ll be back after the performance.

— TIDAL (@TIDALHiFi) August 29, 2015

It’s been reported that proceeds from the festival are going to victims from Hurricane Katrina and the city of New Orleans. The festival also featured a reunion of Lil Wayne’s group Hot Boys and appearances from Master P, Curren$y, and Big Freedia.

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