Jack White Defends Jay-Z's Tidal: 'Don't Devalue Musicians, Man'

Amid continuous backlash surrounding Tidal, Jack White has come to the defense of theJay-Z-owned music streaming service. The former The White Stripes frontman took to thewebsite of his label Third Man Records on Wednesday, May 20 to answer several questions submitted by fans about the service. 

White stressed the importance of people paying for music as he responded to complaint about Tidal being more expensive than its competitors such as Spotify. "How much did you pay for that last movie you saw at the theater? And how much did that movie cost to make?" he asked, before adding, "Don't devalue musicians man, support them."

"Making records is expensive, believe us, I don't see people saying we should go to the movies for free, or Netflix should be free. That state of music is in flux, be on the side of supporting creativity, not taking from it. This gives you that chance," he explained.

White also addressed criticism that Tidal only makes wealthy artists wealthier. "A streaming service owned by artists is the first step, it's not about the rich getting richer," he continued. "It takes artists that can get peoples attention to be able to make a scenario possible for those artists that don't have a voice to get in a position where they aren't struggling, and believe me third man records is full of artists the mainstream's never heard of and have no voice or power in the system."

Tidal was bought and re-launched by Jay-Z back in March. Some high-profile artists including Beyonce Knowles, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna have released their new projects through the service.

Recently, Hov played a two-day special concert exclusively for Tidal subscribers. During the show, he dissed rivals Spotify and YouTube in a frestyle.