Norway drops fake stream charges against Tidal
Norwegian police said Tuesday they were dropping charges against streaming platform Tidal, accused of manipulating its streaming statistics to benefit artists Kanye West and Beyonce.
After almost five years of investigation, the Norwegian police's financial crimes unit Okokrim said the evidence was "insufficient" to press formal charges.
Several associations representing Norwegian artists and musicians had filed complaints against Tidal after Norwegian financial daily Dagens Naeringsliv (DN) claimed the platform had inflated statistics from West's album "The Life of Pablo" and Beyonce's "Lemonade" in 2016.
Tidal at the time belonged to rap mogul Jay-Z, who had acquired it for $56 million in 2015. The false play counts would have enabled excessive royalty
payouts to Jay-Z's wife Beyonce and his former protege Kanye West.
The platform has always denied DN's allegations. Okokrim opened an inquiry at the end of 2018.
"Based on an overall assessment, Okokrim has found the evidence to be insufficient to continue the investigation," Okokrim senior public prosecutor Elisabeth Harbo-Lervik said in a statement.
"In order to bring charges, the prosecution must be convinced that criminal liability can be proven in court beyond any reasonable doubt," she added.
The inquiry was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, which slowed the sending from abroad of key documentation related to the case.
Based on an analysis provided by the Norwegian Center for Cyber and Information Security (CCIS), DN reported more than 320 million false plays of
songs from the two albums over short periods, following manipulations of Tidal users' logs.
Jay-Z ceded control of Tidal in 2021 to digital payment group Square (now known as Block), headed by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.
Comments
See Also
After almost five years of investigation, the Norwegian police's financial crimes unit Okokrim said the evidence was "insufficient" to press formal charges.
Several associations representing Norwegian artists and musicians had filed complaints against Tidal after Norwegian financial daily Dagens Naeringsliv (DN) claimed the platform had inflated statistics from West's album "The Life of Pablo" and Beyonce's "Lemonade" in 2016.
Tidal at the time belonged to rap mogul Jay-Z, who had acquired it for $56 million in 2015. The false play counts would have enabled excessive royalty
payouts to Jay-Z's wife Beyonce and his former protege Kanye West.
The platform has always denied DN's allegations. Okokrim opened an inquiry at the end of 2018.
"Based on an overall assessment, Okokrim has found the evidence to be insufficient to continue the investigation," Okokrim senior public prosecutor Elisabeth Harbo-Lervik said in a statement.
"In order to bring charges, the prosecution must be convinced that criminal liability can be proven in court beyond any reasonable doubt," she added.
The inquiry was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, which slowed the sending from abroad of key documentation related to the case.
Based on an analysis provided by the Norwegian Center for Cyber and Information Security (CCIS), DN reported more than 320 million false plays of
songs from the two albums over short periods, following manipulations of Tidal users' logs.
Jay-Z ceded control of Tidal in 2021 to digital payment group Square (now known as Block), headed by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.