Is Apple Trying To Sabotage TIDAL?

During his "stream of consciousness" Twitter defense of his flailing TIDAL app, Jay Z said that there was a multi-million dollar smear campaign against his streaming music service.

That struck us as a bit paranoid. Especially for a man so connected he gets labeled Illuminati.

But, according to the New York Post, there is something to Jay Z's words.

Sources tell them that Apple "deliberately took a long time to approve Tidal iOS app updates", which could be part of the reason TIDAL has such a poor ranking on the iPhone download chart.

Additionally, Vice President of iTunes Content Robert Kondrk "told execs at Universal Music Group that Rihanna and other Tidal artists' music would not be promoted as featured artists on iTunes if they put exclusive music out on Tidal."

Apple is set to launch a Beats Audio branded streaming service this summer. Last year, Dr. Dre sold Beats to Apple and now has a senior advisory position at the computer giant.

So there's an East Coast-West Coast element to this streaming music beef. And the West Coast appears to have the upper hand.