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Iconoclastic rapper Kanye West gave Tidal a boost by debuting his new album, “The Life of Pablo,” exclusively through the Jay Z-owned streaming music service. West also announced that he would not offer the album through Apple ( AAPL ). It’s been a busy few days for self-proclaimed genius West. He released his new album on Tidal after performing on “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend. He also announced that he is $53 million in debt and asked Facebook ( FB ) CEO Mark Zuckerberg for $1 billion. And he got into a new spat with pop star Taylor Swift and proclaimed himself this generation’s Walt Disney. The Tidal app jumped to the No. 1 spot on Apple’s iOS app store thanks to the “The Life of Pablo” exclusive. West later took to Twitter to announce that the album would never be on Apple iTunes, Apple Music and presumably other services, such as Spotify. “My album will never never never be on Apple. And it will never be for sale. … You can only get it on Tidal,” West tweeted on Monday. Apple Music has had some success without West’s help. Apple revealed last week that Apple Music now has 11 million paid members. The streaming music service costs $10 a month for individuals and $15 a month for a family plan that can be shared by up to six people. Apple Music started the year with 10 million paying subscribers. Tidal also costs $10 a month, but it offers a $20-a-month plan for lossless (high-end data compression) high-fidelity sound quality. Apple Music boasts its own exclusives. Music artist Future debuted his latest album “Evol” through Apple Music and iTunes. The album hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, thanks to the exposure on the Apple platforms, AppleInsider reported . Tidal might not get much traction from the West album release because it upset customers who wanted to download the album, Edison Investment Research analyst Richard Windsor said in a research report. “The release of Kanye West’s latest album, ‘The Life of Pablo,’ has rocketed Tidal up the Apple App Store charts, but we suspect that Tidal’s awful handling of its new customers has done more harm than good,” Windsor said. Tidal initially offered the album as a digital download, as well as via the streaming option. But customers who paid for the album (at $20 a pop) were unable to download it. They were also hit with a mysterious $1 service fee, TechCrunch reported . Some customers reported being double-billed for the album and the service fee. West later decided not to offer the album for download on Tidal, and customers are left waiting for refunds. “Apple and Spotify are likely to be the main beneficiaries of Tidal’s woes, but we think that Tidal’s numbers are so small that it is unlikely to make a visible difference to either company,” Windsor said. “Apple and Spotify remain the two leaders in music streaming and the only two (excluding YouTube) that are likely to be around long term.” RELATED: Apple Pulls Trigger On First Original TV Show, Starring Dr. Dre . Scalper1 News
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