Lil Wayne has been trying to break ties with the label for some time, including filing his own lawsuit against Cash Money for $51 million in January. He signed on as an artist-owner of Tidal in June, but it’s unclear whether that might conflict with his deal under Cash Money.
We discussed some of the common issues to Tidal’s business model earlier in the year after two so-called exclusives were quickly posted on YouTube and bootlegged online. The role of labels also adds a wrinkle to Tidal’s claims of artist ownership, since not all performers have contracts that let them make decisions about the release and distribution of their music.