50 Cent criticises Tidal claiming he could have made it 'more exciting'

'The people you saw there don’t even own the rights to their music - It has to go everywhere'

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From Mumford & Sons to the entire Twittersphere, everyone’s taken a shot at Tidal and it’s not over yet. Joining the anti-Tidal brigade is rapper 50 Cent who said Jay Z could have made the launch of the streaming service “more exciting” if he had invited artists who actually owned their music.

During an interview with Los Angeles radio station REAL 92.3, in a segment called “The Realest”, he explained that, unlike many of the other artists currently on Tidal, he actually owns his music catalogue rather than a record company.

“They probably could've did something more exciting if they reached out," the “Candy Shop” rapper said. "The people you saw there don’t even own the rights to their music. So they can’t say it’s gonna come out Tidal. It has to go everywhere. So why would you actually buy Tidal to get something that would be everywhere else?"

Many artists on Tidal still have their catalogues available elsewhere. For instance, main rival Spotify still offers most of Jay Z’s back catalogue. When you consider that Tidal costs £19.99 and Spotify £9.99, you can understand why Fiddy isn’t a fan.

He added: “[Companies] have contracts and companies are gonna do everything to get the maximum performance out of the music. They’re not gonna just put it through Tidal as a service.”

Other critics include Mumford and Sons who have previously said they “wouldn’t have joined it anyway, even if they had asked”. The service is also said to be about to lose Beyonce's music, adding further salt to the wound.

Jay Z has accused criticism of the service as amounting to a "smear campaign".

He Tweeted: "There are many big companies that are spending millions on a smear campaign. We are not anti-anyone, we are pro-artist & fan. #TidalFacts."