Celebrities / Music

Prince’s estate sues Jay Z’s Roc Nation over Tidal streaming

FILE - In this Feb. 18, 1985 file photo, Prince performs at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif. Prince's NPG Records is suing for copyright infringement after it says Jay Z’s Tidal music service streamed Prince’s songs without permission following the pop icon’s death earlier this year. The lawsuit was filed in Minneapolis federal court on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Liu Heung Shing, File)

FILE – In this Feb. 18, 1985 file photo, Prince performs at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif. Prince’s NPG Records is suing for copyright infringement after it says Jay Z’s Tidal music service streamed Prince’s songs without permission following the pop icon’s death earlier this year. The lawsuit was filed in Minneapolis federal court on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Liu Heung Shing, File)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Prince’s record company is suing Jay Z’s company for copyright infringement, saying it streamed Prince’s songs on the Tidal music service without permission after his death.

Prince’s NPG Records says in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Minneapolis federal court that Prince gave permission to Roc Nation to stream songs on Tidal from only one of his albums.

But the lawsuit says other songs, including “Purple Rain,” ”Little Red Corvette” and “1999,” began streaming about six weeks after Prince’s April death.

NPG Records wants the streaming halted and seeks damages.

Roc Nation says in a court filing in state court last week that Prince signed off on the streaming arrangement before his death.

A spokesman for Tidal declined to comment on the lawsuit. Jay Z relaunched Tidal after buying it last year.

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This story has been corrected to show that Jay Z, not Roc Nation, owns Tidal.

 

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