Jay-Z’s music streaming service Tidal is reportedly under investigation in Norway over allegations that the company faked listener numbers, falsifying as many as hundreds of millions of plays of albums from major artists like Jay-Z’s wife Beyonce.
Tidal is being probed by the Norwegian Authority for Investigation of Economic and Environmental Crime after allegations from Norwegian artist associations claiming potential loss of income from the manipulation of streaming data.
According to a Norwegian newspaper, “Beyoncé’s and Kanye West’s listener numbers on TIDAL have been manipulated to the tune of several hundred million false plays… which has generated massive royalty payouts at the expense of other artists.”