Earlier this week we reported on a burgeoning class action suit that disgruntled music fan Justin Baker-Rhett is looking to pursue against Kanye West. Baker-Rhett has accused West of fraudulently boosting the value of controversial streaming service Tidal.
Back in February, West claimed on Twitter that the infamous streaming platform owned by Jay-Z and a cabal of other superstars (including West) would be the only place where fans would be able to hear his latest album, The Life of Pablo.
Fans immediately flocked to the service, agreeing to pay the US$9.99 (AUD$13) per month fee for the otherwise maligned streaming platform. The Life of Pablo subsequently appeared on Apple Music and Spotify a couple of months later.
Now, Baker-Rhett and Jay Edelson, the lawyer leading the class action suit against West, are accusing the rapper and Tidal of tricking consumers into signing up for the service, adding millions of customers to the struggling platform.
According to the suit, the apparent conspiracy tripled Tidal’s subscriber base to three million, increased its value from US$24 million to US$84 million, and violated the privacy of fans by forcing them to give Tidal their credit card data.
Speaking to triple j’s Hack, the US-based Edelson called West’s claims about The Life of Pablo‘s exclusivity “straight fraud” which “actually boosted the valuation of his company to the tune of over $60 million”.
Meanwhile, Australian lawyer Michael Bradley says Australians who signed up for Tidal after reading West’s tweet can join the suit, as they are as entitled as anybody to get their money back from this “basic case of deception”.
Bradley said the most likely scenario is for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to get involved. “They’d be looking to get everyone out of their Tidal contracts and get their money back,” he told Hack.
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“The ACCC would say these guys [Tidal] have breached Australian Consumer law in a number of ways, including misrepresentation [Kanye fibbing about where he was releasing his album] and unfair contracts.”
Furthermore, Bradley said Tidal’s own T&Cs, such as a stipulation which claims you are not entitled to a refund if you’re outside of the EU or that any dispute with the company must be settled in New York, would constitute an unfair contract under Australian law.
According to Bradley, “the ACCC could prosecute for these breaches of law and pursue financial penalties which could be in the millions”. However, Aussies will not be able to claim any of th potential damages awarded in the US class action.
