According to a new investigation by Norwegian business daily Dagens Næringsliv, Tidal may have been greatly inflating its subscriber numbers in statements to media and investors.
The service is co-owned by Jay Z and a dozen other artists including Kanye West, Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj and Madonna.
Though it publicly stated last March to amassing a subscriber base of three million paying users, that number may be a lot closer to “around 850,000”, a translated version of the report, provided to Digital Music News, reads.
“The figure reported internally by Tidal in April is 1.2 million subscribers,” the report continues.
The inflation has been put down to allegations that the service has been reactivating old accounts, as well as including subscribers who are currently on a limited-time free trial.
Tidal started out as part of Aspiro, a Norwegian-owned company. Tidal has yet to publicly respond to the allegations.