Kanye West’s next performance could be in front of a judge.
The “Gold Digger” rapper has been slapped with a lawsuit for releasing his latest album, “The Life of Pablo,” on alternate platforms after initially saying that it would only be available on Jay Z’s streaming service, Tidal.
The suit, which also names S. Carter Enterprises, claims that millions of new subscribers signed up for Tidal after West said that the album would only be available on the struggling streaming service .
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in California on Monday, notes that Tidal part-owner West tweeted that “The Life of Pablo” would “never never be available on Apple. And it will never be for sale … You can only get it on Tidal.”
West changed his tune — and made it much more widely available — a month and a half later, when “The Life of Pablo” suddenly was offered via Apple Music, Spotify and in West’s online marketplace, the suit says.
By then, the suit says, Tidal had benefited greatly, with subscriptions spiking from 1 million to 3 million in a month.
In the process, the complaint says, Tidal collected customers’ data, including email addresses, social media account information and “other personally identifiable information” from subscribers as young as 13 years old.
In all, the suit claims that the supposed exclusivity of West’s album was worth “as much as $84 million to Tidal.”
“Consumers were uniformly tricked into handing over their private data and credit card information by a singular mistruth,” says the suit, filed by Justin Baker-Rhett. He’s representing a class of people who he says were duped into subscribing to Tidal.
Alleging fraudulent inducement, unjust enrichment and other claims, the suit is seeking unspecified damages.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.