And by holding out, he’s speaking up for all the less wealthy artists who also disagree with Spotify’s business model but don’t have a choice but to submit to it. He may be losing millions from taking a stance against Spotify, but he’s also in a position to do so. Jay-Z has long understood that the real money these days is not in making music itself-his purchase and turn-around of Tidal is one example, his venture-capital fund is another, and just look at the litany of corporate deals the rapper has struck in the last two decades if you’re not convinced. The album showcased Roc-a-Fellas in-house rappers, such as Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek, and Freeway. Streaming is not a lucrative revenue stream in the first place: Beyoncé, for instance, was the highest-paid musician in 2016 and barely made 3% of her money from streams. Jay-Z then scaled back a bit for Dynasty Roc la Familia (2000), his fifth album in as many years. His net worth is already estimated at $810 million, and that number climbs to $1.16 billion when factoring in the wealth of the other member of his household (Beyoncé). Until, that is, you consider how rich Jay-Z already is. Either way, it would seem there’s a significant amount of money being lost from the rapper holding 4:44 off of Spotify. (After not charting at all in its first week as a Tidal exclusive, the album has been number one for the past two weeks-and that’s without Spotify, the biggest streaming service in the world.) Others have more modest analyses, saying Jay-Z would only pocket about $250,000 of royalties per week. According to some industry insiders speaking to the publication, that’s around the amount that other prominent artists make from Spotify in the initial weeks of a hot new album release.
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