Drake Ditched Jay-Z For iTunes Just Two Days Before Tidal’s Launch

Jay-Z had the who’s who of music stand with him on stage a few months ago to reintroduce the world to the streaming company he acquired, Tidal. One face was notably missing, Drake’s, and there’s a good reason why. He was apparently working on a deal with iTunes.

Via Business Insider

Drake had been intended as one of the original 16 artist “partners” of Tidal, the music news outlet reports — but pulled out at the last minute, “as late as two days before its March 30 launch event in New York.”

Instead, Drake has reportedly turned to one of Jay Z and Tidal’s biggest rivals — Apple. The Cupertino company is expected to launch a new music streaming service at its World Wide Developers Conference next week, to take on the likes of Spotify, Pandora, and Tidal. One of its big draws is its use of celebrities to curate playlists, produce exclusive content, and generally be a “presence” on the platform. Earlier this year, Apple hired star BBC DJ Zane Lowe to help spearhead these efforts and recruit artists.

There were earlier rumours that Apple was offering Drake as much as $19 million to feature on its new service, but this figure has been denied by a source Billboard talked to. “Apple doesn’t normally pay artists for those types of collaborations,” they said.

Nonetheless, Drake — along with Pharrell Williams — has now apparently been recruited for the platform. According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, it will cost around $10 per month once it launches.

So Apple somehow managed to snag both Drake AND Pharrell. There were also rumors that Kanye was going to drop his latest project on iTunes but that hasn’t been confirmed by any reputable sources so for now, it’s simply just a rumor. 

As far as Drake’s role with iTunes, it’s said that he will become a guest DJ for iTunes Radio, which essentially means he’ll be the man behind a particular playlist (or many). 

The Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco kicks off June 8th and runs through the 12th.