Despite firing shots at Apple Music’s Jimmy Iovine in one of his latest tracks, Jay-Z’s new album ‘4:44’ will be available on the streaming site later this week.
A report from Billboard claims that the album is to go live this Friday, 7th July:
A source confirmed that 4:44 will be added to Apple Music/iTunes next week after its one-week exclusivity window on Tidal; the songs also streamed on 160 iHeartRadio stations across the U.S. after 4:44‘s release and they will air until midnight on July 1 on the network’s Urban and Rhythmic formats.
Last year, reports claimed that Apple were in talks with the rapper to acquire his streaming service Tidal but no deal was ever reached. Iovine later went on to deny this. Instead, U.S. carrier Sprint bought a $200 million stake in Tidal and following that deal, it was revealed that ‘4:44’ would be exclusive to Tidal subscribers and Sprint customers through a six-month free trial.
The track ‘Smile’, which calls out Iovine, also references exclusive music being lifted off Tidal. For a short period, Jay-Z’s music disappeared from competing services, one of which included Apple Music, but fans can look forward to listening to the album later this week.