Give Jay-Z's Tidal tune stream thing a chance, says indie label boss

Income from loopy, star-owned vanity project better than no income at all

The harder they come

Even Jay-Z, whose net worth was reckoned to be around $600m even before the inflated paper valuation of Tidal was attached to his net worth, will find it tough fighting Google.

Tidal is offering exclusives – but look what popped up on Google’s YouTube overnight. Google is already "monetising" Jay Z's Tidal exclusive without permission.

Yes, Google may be able to build driverless cars, and keep YouTube porn-free, but it refuses to turn its music-matching filters to block unlicensed uploads.

The international association of record label reps, IFPI, took aim at the laws that allow it to do so earlier this week, echoing calls by the outgoing IP czar to level the playing field.

"YouTube and Dailymotion are in the business of promoting, distributing and monetising content, but claim to be a mere hosting service, and then say they don't have to take a full licence. Spotify or Deezer have to negotiate to market conditions, and then YouTube or Dailymotion say these are the tarffis and if you're not happy with that then your music stays up there unmonetised and [immune] to take-down procedures. That is unfair,” the IFPI's Frances Moore told MusicWeek. In other words, the incentives in today’s so-called Safe Harbour provisions (really limited liabilities) reward you for acting unethicallly, and penalise you for doing the right thing.

Indies know the sloping playing field very well – as YouTube used Safe Harbour as a stick in licensing negotiations demands.

“There is an issue with piracy and I’m supporting legislation that deals with it – but it’s been a scapegoat. Francis Moore is exactly right, but they’ve focussed on piracy rather than ganging with their customers – how do we sell music to the mass market, which is our real job?” Goldschmidt says.

Oh. And tomorrow is Record Store Day. ®