Jay Z takes his music off Spotify

Rapper's catalogue can still be found on his own streaming service, Tidal, and on Apple Music

(Reuters)

Jay Z has removed the majority of his music from Spotify, with just a few early albums and collaborations left on the streaming service.

The only remaining Jay Z albums on Spotify are his 1997 records In My Lifetime Vol. 1 and Reasonable Doubt, plus 1998's Vol. 2 Hard Knock Life.

Collision Course, the album he recorded with Linkin Park in 2004, a handful of singles including his Kanye West collaborations 'N****s in Paris' and 'Clique', and a remix of 'All The Way Up' [Fat Joe and Remy Ma].

Spotify confirmed to Billboard that "some" of Jay Z's music had been removed "at the request of the artist".

Jay Z's solo work is also almost entirely absent from Amazon Music's catalogue, but can still be found of Apple Music with the exception of The Blueprint and Reasonable Doubt.

Fortune notes that the removal of Jay Z's music has taken place incrementally, which is possibly due to licensing agreements involving third parties.

It makes sense given that Jay Z co-owns a rival service that has a bigger focus on artist exclusives.

Jay Z bought Tidal for $56 million in 2015, promising listeners that it would be a platform with better sound quality, and with better compensation for artists who hosted their music on the site.

However the service is still significantly smaller than industry leaders Spotify and Apple Music: Spotify boasts around 100 million listeners and 50 million paid subscriptions. Apple Music has about 20 million subscribers, while Tidal is believed to have less than 3 million.

Jay Z made a surprise appearance on Frank Ocean's new track 'Biking' last week.

Also featuring Tyler, the Creator, the track debuted on Ocean's 'Blonded' show on Apple Music and followed the release of his song 'Chanel' in March.