Jay Z has removed most of his back catalogue from music streaming service Spotify.
The co-owner of Tidal, has removed 9 of his studio 12 albums, meaning only ‘In My Lifetime Vol. 1’, ‘Reasonable Doubt’ and ‘Vol. 2 Hard Knock Life’ are available for fans to stream.
However ‘Collision Course’, Jay Z’s 2004 collaboration album with Linkin Park, and singles inlcuding ‘N***as In Paris’ with Kanye West and ‘All The Way Up’ are still online.
Spotify have confirmed to various media outlets that the “removal” of some of Jay Z’s catalogue was done “at the request of the artist.”
“We can confirm that some of Jay Z’s catalogue has been removed at the request of the artist.” a spokesperson from the Swedish music streaming service said.
Jay Z founded Tidal, his own music streaming service, in 2015.
Launched in a blaze of publicity, and with the backing of some of musics biggest names including Madonna, Kanye West, Rihanna, Chris Martin and Beyonce, Tidal promised to be the next big music streaming service for fans.
However in 2017, two years after its launch, Tidal has just 3 million subscribers.
That compares to Spotify’s 50 million and Apple Music’s 20 million paying subscribers.
Jay Z isn’t the only artist to have removed his music from Spotify.
Taylor Swift removed her entire discography from the service back in 2014 following a row over artist payments.
Prince, Beyonce and Adele have also withheld their music from appearing on certain services.
What do you think of Jay Z’s decision to remove his music from Spotify? Which music streaming service do you use? Let us know your thoughts over on Twitter @CelebMix