Apple Music has another big star. According to pop music site That Grape Juice , Lady Gaga is set to sign with the new music service .
“The recruitment of the ‘ Bad Romance’ belter comes after the company unveiled the likes of Drake and The Weeknd as some of the front-line talent involved in their movement. It’ll be intriguing to see how Gaga, who hasn’t released a solo album since 2013’s ‘ARTPOP’ leverages the Apple platform in support of her hotly anticipated new album.”
However, as exciting as Gaga’s signing may be, another huge pop artist, Adele, may stay away from Apple Music. Digital Music News reports that 50 percent of independent artists will stay away.
“Apple is now facing the prospect of a ‘massive withdrawal’ from a ‘very large group of indie’ artists and labels from Apple Music, according to multiple sources speaking with Digital Music News this weekend. “
Digital Music News says that the withdrawal includes some of the largest independent artists in the music world, including Adele, The National, Alabama Shakes, and quite possibly, Radiohead.
Digital Music News reveals that one of the main reasons Indie artists are staying away is because of Apple’s decision not to pay any royalties to artists during the three-month free period. Given how little artists are making from their streaming music these days, one can see why Apple Music’s decision to offer three months of free music isn’t good for artists.
However, top-selling artists such as Lady Gaga and Drake aren’t letting the three-month deal bother them. In fact, Kanye West may be jumping ship from Jay’Z’s disastrous Tidal Service over to Apple. Hits Daily Double initially reported the news.
“Kanye West is making changes, distancing himself from Tidal, firing Roc Nation and managing himself, with an unofficial assist from the Jenner-Kardashian clan. As for Kanye’s long-delayed album, there’s some chatter that the release will be connected to Apple Music’s launch.”
The fact that artists are ignoring Tidal and jumping over to Apple Music must be making Jay-Z very angry. 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.
It remains to be seen if Rihanna, who just allegedly canceled her R8 album , will move over to Apple Music as well. Apple Music could be the future of the music industry, but its success is not 100 percent guaranteed.
[Photo by Robert Prezioso / Getty Images]