The album was released exclusively on Jay Z’s Tidal streaming service, with West tweeting that it would never be available anywhere else. Instead of flocking to the streaming service in droves, however, fans looked somewhere else: torrent sites. The album was downloaded over 500,000 times on the first day it was available, and such piracy is reported to have cost West over $10 million in lost revenue.
“Because of this breach, Kanye has been difficult to be around. He’s touchy, angry and feels like his material was stolen,” West’s wife Kim Kardashian told Hollywood Life. “He hates the idea of people not paying for his music and feels someone needs to be held accountable for that.”
West is talking to lawyers and hopes to pursue legal action against torrenting site The Pirate Bay, and is hoping that Tidal will join forces with him in any legal action. Of course, The Pirate Bay is no stranger to this sort of thing and has no plans to remove the torrent links for the album.
After a few strong words regarding both West and The Life Of Pablo, The Pirate Bay staff member Spud17 wished West luck. “Our legal department will be waiting,” he told TorrentFreak.
Given the nature of how The Pirate Bay works and the general anonymity of its staff, legal action against the site isn’t an easy thing. While West could very well win the case, tracking down someone associated with the site to collect damages from wouldn’t be easy. Other artists have tried to sue the site before, and none have collected.
This comes as the latest in a long line of missteps and bad luck associated with the hotly anticipated release of The Life Of Pablo. For a full history of what may very well be “the worst-executed major-label release of a generation,” see our full rundown.
