The family of Prince is planning to sue Jay-Z’s Roc Nation for copyright infringement after streaming platform Tidal allegedly featured Prince’s music on the service without permission.
As The Star Tribune reports, the lawsuit was filed yesterday (November 15) and accuses Tidal of "exploiting" a number of Prince’s copyrighted works following his death in April of this year from an accidental drug overdose.
The claim specifically points to one infringement in July of this year when 15 of Prince’s copyrighted albums turned up on Tidal. The lawsuit does acknowledge that Prince had granted the streaming service permission to stream his Hit N Run: Phase 1 album exclusively for 90 days, but states that this did not extend to any of the rest of his catalogue.
Tidal claims it did have oral and written permission to stream Prince’s works but that his estate had not been shown this evidence. Prince’s music can still be streamed via Tidal at time of writing, but earlier this month, Prince’s estate gave Universal Music the full rights to his works.
