Kanye West Wants Meeting Between Tim Cook and Jay Z to End 'Beef' Between Apple Music and Tidal

kanye west 2In a series of tweets sent out this afternoon, musician Kanye West claimed that the schism between Apple Music and rival streaming music service Tidal is negatively affecting the music industry as a whole.

West is one of the artists closely aligned with Tidal, who's also one of its co-owners, along with the likes of Jay Z, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Jack White, and others.

In three subsequent tweets, West suggested that Apple CEO Tim Cook and Jay Z, along with a few other executives at Tidal and Apple, get "on the phone or in a room" within the coming week to discuss a partnership between the two services. It's unclear if West's language is corroborating that talks between Apple and Tidal have in fact been ongoing over the last few weeks, or if he's simply suggesting the idea based off of those reports from earlier in the summer.

In the last tweet, West tells Apple to "give Jay his check now and stop trying to act like you Steve," potentially hinting that Apple is trying out its "hard-nosed" negotiating tactics again, which was recently reported to be causing the company trouble in the television market. If the two managed to agree on a deal, Tidal's purchase could bring Apple a roster of new and exclusive artists, possibly helping the Cupertino company realize its aim for content that puts it in line with "MTV in its 80s and 90s heyday."

Earlier in the year, Kanye was adamant that his new album The Life of Pablo would "never" be made available on Apple Music, opting to keep it as an exclusive on Tidal, but eventually the album did launch on Apple's streaming music service. Rough patches like this have left many to wonder if any deal can be reached between the two rival streaming platforms, so it's interesting to see that one musician so close to the drama unfolding appears to be in favor of ending the apparent feud and letting "the kids have the music."

Popular Stories

apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

iPhone Driver's Licenses: These 17 U.S. States Offer Them or Will Later

Thursday June 19, 2025 11:28 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states and Puerto...
iPhone 16 Battery Life Feature

iOS 26's New Battery Life Mode Available Only on These iPhone Models

Saturday June 21, 2025 9:02 am PDT by
Last week, we reported that iOS 26 introduces an opt-in Adaptive Power Mode on the iPhone, alongside the existing Low Power Mode. Apple says that Adaptive Power Mode can make "small performance adjustments" when necessary to extend an iPhone's battery life, including slightly lowering the display brightness or allowing some activities to "take a little longer." The full description of...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
ios 26 call holding

iOS 26 Beta is Hiding a New Ringtone — Here's What It Sounds Like

Thursday June 19, 2025 7:25 pm PDT by
Apple is hiding a new ringtone within iOS 26. The new ringtone is an alternative version of the existing Reflection ringtone, which has been the default ringtone since the iPhone X was released in 2017. It was discovered within the code for the first developer beta of iOS 26, but it remains hidden, so you will not find it in the list of ringtones available in the Settings app for now. It...
apple watch ultra 2 new black

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Finally Coming After Two-Year Hiatus

Monday June 16, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve). The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
iOS 18

Apple Releases iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Wednesday June 18, 2025 10:24 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a few days after Apple provided the betas to developers. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. When the...
General Spotify Feature

Spotify Preparing to Launch Long-Awaited Lossless Audio Tier on iPhone

Thursday June 19, 2025 1:46 pm PDT by
Spotify appears to be gearing up to launch its long-awaited lossless music tier. Chris Messina (via TechCrunch) and Spicetify (via The Verge) spotted new lossless references within the code for Spotify's desktop app and web player. With assistance from Aaron Perris, MacRumors has confirmed that the latest beta of the Spotify app for the iPhone also contains new lossless-related code....
airpods 4 blue

Apple Offering Free AirPods — Here's How to Get Them

Tuesday June 17, 2025 6:33 am PDT by
Apple is running a new promotion that offers free AirPods to qualifying customers. Now through September 30, college and university students in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Singapore can receive free AirPods 4 when they purchase an eligible new Mac or iPad from Apple. AirPods Pro 2 are also available at a discount. If you do not want AirPods, the promotion also offers various other...
Craig Federighi No

John Gruber Reacts to Apple Declining His Interview After His Criticism

Wednesday June 18, 2025 8:10 pm PDT by
Every year between 2015 and 2024, at least one Apple executive agreed to be interviewed by Daring Fireball's John Gruber for a special WWDC episode of his podcast, The Talk Show. Last year, for example, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi, marketing chief Greg Joswiak, and top AI researcher John Giannandrea joined Gruber on stage at the California Theatre in San Jose to discuss...

Top Rated Comments

Kobbr Avatar
116 months ago
I wish him and Kim would disappear forever.
Score: 163 Votes (Like | Disagree)
drumcat Avatar
116 months ago
Kanye... LOL. Go away. Let Tidal die.
Score: 131 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macduke Avatar
116 months ago
He just wants a payday like Dre because he's broke.
Score: 103 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TMRJIJ Avatar
116 months ago
:D Bahahahahahaha...
.
Score: 88 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macduke Avatar
116 months ago
"Hey man, I'm a genius, alright?! I'm the most talented musician in the world! If I was a homosexual, or a fish, I would know!"
Score: 48 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ibejohn Avatar
116 months ago
We'll see if Tim Cook is stupid enough to join Kanya West in any deal, let alone a meeting.
This may be the the final straw that gets Cook thrown out as CEO
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)