Jay-Z’s music service Tidal is reportedly under criminal investigation for faking stream numbers for Beyonce and Kanye West’s albums Lemonade and The Life Of Pablo.
The company is being investigated by the Norwegian police’s economic crime unit, Okokrim. The chief public prosecutor Elisabeth Harbo-Lervik confirmed the news in an interview, according to the Dagens Naeringsliv (DN) newspaper, The Telegraph reported.
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The paper claimed in May that it had obtained database information on album streaming figures, writing that there was evidence of at least 320 million fake streams being registered.
DN stated, according to Music Business Worldwide: “Beyonce 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.”
A spokesperson for Okokrim confirmed the investigation on Monday, The Telegraph added, but Tidal continued to deny the fake stream reports.
They said in a statement obtained by ET Canada, “Tidal is not a suspect in the underlying investigation. We are communicating with Okokrim.”
“From the very beginning, DN has quoted documents that they have not shared with us in spite of repeated requests. DN has repeatedly made claims based on information we believe may be falsified.”
Tidal has also hired a cybersecurity business to investigate possible theft of user data, with the spokesman adding: “We are aware that at least one person we suspected of theft has been questioned.”
“We cannot comment further at this time and refer to our previous statement, which still stands.”
The previous statement read: “We reject and deny the claims that have been made by Dagens Naeringsliv. Although we do not typically comment on stories we believe to be false, we feel it is important to make sure that our artists, employees, and subscribers know that we are not taking the security and integrity of our data lightly, and we will not back down from our commitment to them.”
“When we learned of a potential data breach we immediately, and aggressively, began pursuing multiple avenues available to uncover what occurred. This included reporting it to proper authorities, pursuing legal action, and proactively taking steps to further strengthen our stringent security measures that are already in place.”
“Additionally, we have engaged an independent, third party cyber-security firm to conduct a review of what happened and help us further protect the security and integrity of our data. We are proud of the hard work, devotion to our artist driven mission, and tremendous accomplishments of our over one hundred employees in Norway and fifty more in the United States. We look forward to sharing with them, and all of our partners, the results of the review once completed.”
Harbo-Lervik added to DN: “Tidal has previously stated it considers itself insulted by DN’s allegations. It should have a vested interest in getting information on the table that would tell us anything about a possible manipulation. We’re still waiting for them to offer this information.”
