Streaming service Tidal is reportedly under criminal investigation for allegedly inflating listener numbers, including releases from Beyoncé and Kanye West.
The probe follows claims that the music service had allegedly boosted streams on the site artificially by tens of millions.
Norwegian authorities report that they are examining whether figures were manipulated by “someone”, but did not identify any specific corporations or individuals.
Norwegian financial newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) initially reported the claims in May of 2018, alleging that Tidal had inflated the streaming numbers by tens of millions on two 2016 releases; Beyonce’s Lemonade and Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo.
The publication’s claims were corroborated by university computer scientists who carried out an analysis of the platform’s data.
In response, Tidal dismissed the article as a “smear campaign”.
On Monday (14th January 2019), DN reported that Økokrim, or the Norwegian National Authority for Investigation And Prosecution of Economic And Environmental Crime, was looking into the Norway based streaming platform.
In a press release, Økokrim confirmed that they were carrying out a fraud investigation, elaborating that three criminal complains had been filed against Tidal by other Norwegian music organizations.
Tidal’s lawyer has stated that the streaming service is “not under suspicion in this case”.
The streaming platform claim to be in communication with Økokrim about the probing whilst undergoing a cyber-security review of their data’s integrity.
Wimp, the company behind Tidal, was bought up in 2015 by Beyonce’s husband, Jay-Z for a cool $56 million (£37 m).
Japanese company Sprint purchased his stake in 2017, paying out an estimated $200 million.
