Jay Z’s Music Streaming Service,Tidal has lost its Second Chief Executive in less than three months.

Tidal announced on Tuesday that interim CEO Peter Tonstad was “no longer with the company”. Tonstad only took the helm in April after Tidal axed previous boss Andy Chen just weeks after Jay Z bought Aspiro, the Swedish company behind the technology, and launched the service in a star-studded event featuring Beyoncé, Madonna and Kanye West.

“We are thankful to Peter for stepping in as interim CEO and wish him the best for the future,” a company spokeswoman said on Tuesday. “Tidal will be transitioning to a permanent CEO as part of our strategic plan to create a leading platform, and current executives in New York and Oslo will continue to lead our rapidly developing innovation and content initiatives until our new CEO is in place.”

The impressive roster of 15 of the biggest acts in the music business, including Beyoncé, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna and Kanye West, who took to the stage at Tidal’s launch, are all shareholders. Jay Z said the service was designed to benefit artists rather than the music industry.


But other superstars, including Lily Allen, were quick to criticise the service, which she said could encourage an increase in piracy. Mumford & Sons said that when the company is mentioned, the band members make “a series of loud fart sounds”.

“You pay $9.99 for Spotify, so why not $9.99 for Tidal,” Jay Z said. “We’re not asking for anything else, we’re just saying that we’ll spread that money to artists more fairly.”

Tidal charges $9.99, or $19.99 for higher-quality sound.