Kanye West and Tidal can’t dodge a lawsuit that alleges they tricked fans into subscribing to the streaming service by falsely claiming it would be the only place to hear West’s 2016 album The Life of Pablo, a judge has ruled.
In an an 18-page opinion today that was obtained by Pitchfork, U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Woods granted parts of Tidal’s motions to dismiss the proposed class-action lawsuit but denied other parts, allowing the case to go forward as it relates to a tweet West made on February 15, 2016. In the tweet, West said that The Life of Pablo “will never never never be on Apple. And it will never be for sale . . . You can only get it on Tidal.” Six weeks later, The Life of Pablo was available on other platforms, including Apple.
Last year, in a motion to dismiss, West pointed out that The Life of Pablo was “updated and remixed numerous times, with different vocals, lyrics, and arrangements.” He contended that his tweet was true because only these newly updated and remixed versions of The Life of Pablo “have been made available for purchase or streaming on platforms other than Tidal.” In today’s ruling, the judge wrote that “Mr. West’s argument is tenuous, and certainly does not pass muster in the context of a motion to dismiss.”
The lawsuit was filed in 2016 on behalf of Justin Baker-Rhett, described in the opinion as a fan of West’s music, and others in a similar situation. Rhett claimed that he subscribed to Tidal because wrongly believed it was the only place he would ever be able to hear The Life of Pablo. The judge threw out the lawsuit’s claims that West and Tidal violated New York state law, ruling that Baker-Rhett’s transaction with Tidal didn’t have enough of a connection to New York. The judge also dismissed claims based on a tweet from Tidal on February 14, 2016 saying that The Life of Pablo would be streaming “exclusively” on the platform, as well as claims based on the notion that Tidal falsely concealed from fans that the album would be exclusive only for six weeks.
A Tidal spokesperson declined to comment. Lawyers for West didn’t immediately respond to Pitchfork’s requests for comment.
A lawyer for Baker-Rhett cheered the judge’s ruling. “The defendants made a bunch of arguments to get the case thrown out but the court accepted our core premise: what we alleged constitutes consumer fraud,” the lawyer, Jay Edelson, told Pitchfork in an email. “The court wants us to amend our pleadings and, based on how it decided certain issues, we won’t easily be able to have one nationwide class. That means that we will be bringing a bunch of state-by-state class actions. This is a bit of a ‘be careful what you wish for’ situation for the defendants.”
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Edelson tweeted that he would be questioning West in the case. “My tweet was, obviously playful (and a reference to Lil Dicky), but my point was serious,” he told Pitchfork. “We now will have a chance to move on with this case, including deposing Kanye.”
