Instead of debuting her video for “B***h I’m Madonna” on Vevo, where the song would have easily entered the Billboard Hot 100 due to streaming points, Madonna proved loyal to Jay-Z’s Tidal and debuted it there.
It’s obvious that Tidal didn’t care enough about Madonna to make sure her video debuted properly . The New York Daily News describes why fans were upset.
“Subscribers anxious to watch the new star-studded video, featuring Nicki Minaj and cameos from Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry, reported on Twitter that the video kept freezing at about three minutes in. Other users said they couldn’t watch it due to an error message.”
The New York Daily News does point out that Tidal apologized a couple hours after the original debut.
“We apologize to all the fans excited to watch the #B***hImMadonna video, we’re working on a fix. We’ll have it up and running soon,” Tidal said.
This only adds to a long line of bad publicity for Tidal, which is struggling to stay afloat. There are many huge artists who are ignoring Tidal and jumping over to Apple Music instead. Last month, Jay-Z blamed the failure of Tidal on racism. However, as TMZ noted , the staff at Jay-Z’s Tidal office in Norway is nearly all white. Of course, the majority of population of Norway is white, but this still makes Jay-Z’s rant about the black (or white) community not supporting Tidal ripe for criticism.
Tech Dirt recently described what is, perhaps, Tidal’s biggest PR problem .
“But to roll that message out with marketing ads featuring insanely wealthy musicians in designer clothes all getting together to talk about ushering in a new service designed to generate more money for themselves (and perhaps newer artists too)? Look, there’s nothing wrong with being rich, but that’s just bad PR.”
Tidal is generally seen as a service for the already rich and privileged artists, not the fans. Huge artist such as Rihanna, Jay-Z, Beyoncé Kanye West, and Madonna can’t save any service that is viewed as unfriendly and condescending to fans. Perhaps Madonna is hurting her brand by remaining with the service.
Speaking of Madonna, her “B***h I’m Madonna” video has garnered mostly favorable reviews. Time notes that the video is bonkers — but in a good way. They like the tongue-in-cheek nature of the video and the way Madonna turns her icon status into a whirling dance floor weapon.
If Madonna wants her work to be released without any glitches to the major public, she may want to think about her status as a Tidal artist. Do you think Madonna should have debuted the video on Vevo instead? Tell us in the comments section.
[Photo Credit: New York Daily News ]