Jay Z, left, with Drake in happier times. Chrisopher Polk/Getty Images Jay Z's new music-streaming service, Tidal, launched with much aplomb in March this year. More than a dozen celebrities, including Madonna and Kanye West, turned up to sign a contract promising to "forever change the course of music history." But according to Billboard, not everyone scheduled to appear at the launch actually showed up.

Drake was supposed to be one of the original 16 artist "partners" of Tidal, the music news outlet reports, but pulled out at the last minute, "as late as two days before its March 30 launch event in New York."

Drake has instead reportedly turned to one of Jay Z and Tidal's biggest rivals: Apple. The Cupertino company is expected to reveal a new music-streaming service at its WWDC conference next week to take on the likes of Spotify, Pandora, and Tidal. One of its big draws is expected to be the use of celebrities to curate playlists, produce exclusive content, and generally be a "presence" on the platform. Earlier this year, Apple hired star BBC DJ Zane Lowe to help spearhead these efforts and recruit artists.

There were earlier rumours that Apple was offering Drake as much as $19 million to be featured on its new service, but this figure has been denied by a source Billboard spoke with. "Apple doesn't normally pay artists for those types of collaborations," the source said.

Nonetheless, Drake — along with singer Pharrell Williams — has now apparently been recruited for the platform. According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, the service will cost about $10 a month.

As the music-streaming space gets increasingly crowded, debate is heating up about how consumers should access music online. Several musicians have slammed the approach Tidal is taking. Singer Lily Allen says it will encourage piracy, and Marcus Mumford (of Mumford & Sons) is also critical.

But established industry leader Spotify has also come under fire, with Taylor Swift pulling her music from the platform in a highly public move in late 2014, contending that its free, ad-supported listening option failed to value art properly.

Jay Z has shot back against other steaming services with a special song, rapping that "you know when I work I ain't your slave right ... you know I came in this game independent right, Tidal, my own label same difference ... Spotify is 9 million, they ain't say s---."

We've reached out to Tidal for comment.