Jay Z out! Spotify confirms the removal of the rapper’s material

Along with Adele, Taylor Swift and his wife Beyoncé, Jay Z has decided to remove a substantial portion of his material from music streaming service Spotify.

Despite being the co-owner of rival service Tidal, which was launched in 2015, the rapper had kept his music on Spotify up until now, but decided to change tack in recent days.

Reports suggest that Jay Z's decision may be the result of Tidal's poor performance, with Billboard recently reporting: "The self-proclaimed more artist-friendly service trails leaders Spotify (50 million subscribers as of last count), Apple Music (20 million as of last official count), and Amazon (never says, but when bundled with Amazon Prime could be well over 10 million)."

"Tidal’s subscription numbers are thought to be under 3 million and perhaps on par with competitors Deezer and Napster," they added.

Jay Z has removed nine of his 12 albums from Spotify, leaving only; In My Lifetime Vol. 1’, ‘Reasonable Doubt' and ‘Vol. 2 Hard Knock Life’, 'Collision Course’ and some singles.

Spotify confirmed the reports, announcing: "Some of [Jay Z’s] catalogue has been removed at the request of the artist."

The rapper bought Tidal for $56 million in 2015.