So, that begs the question, is it really all about the money or are there egos in play here? The timing of Kanye's decision to cut ties with Tidal comes at a rather interesting point: just days after Jay-Z's new album 4:44, which is already platinum, was released. In what seems to be a response to Kanye's concert tirade, Jay-Z says in his track Kill Jay Z: "You got high on the life, that shit drugged you. You walkin' around like you invincible, you dropped outta school, you lost your principles. I know people backstab you, I felt bad too. But this 'fuck everybody' attitude ain't natural." The song clearly references one of Kanye's most popular albums, The College Dropout, as well as lyrics from The Life of Pablo track Highlights.

In the same song, Jay-Z talks about giving Kanye a hefty amount of money. "You gave him 20 million without blinkin', he gave you 20 minutes on stage, fuck was he thinkin'?" At first it was rumored that this was related to a deal with Tidal -- remember when Kanye, along with artists like Daft Punk and Deadmau5, joined Jay-Z on stage to celebrate the launch of the service in 2015? But more recent reports suggest the money was to pay for production costs of the Saint Pablo Tour, including things like that insane floating stage. Kanye has yet to respond to Jay-Z's words, but given his long history of not holding back, that could happen sooner rather than later.

It may be too late for Tidal, which declined to answer our request for comment, to repair its damaged relationship with Kanye. Still, it should try to do all it can to keep him from breaking their exclusive deal because having even a weeklong lock on one of his future albums is better than nothing. And that's more important now than ever, as rivals like Spotify and Apple Music continue to grow their own exclusives in hopes of racking up millions of new subscribers.