The international music and entertainment platform Tidal — launched by Jay Z and a panoply of music-industry heavy hitters from Rhianna to Madonna in March of 2015 — is using its power for good. The news that Tidal (in association with Roc Nation) is donating $1.5 million to Black Lives Matter as well as other social-justice groups was announced to Mic yesterday.
The generous gift was planned to commemorate the day that Trayvon Martin’s would have turned 21. (The unarmed Martin was shot and killed on February 26, 2012 in Florida by George Zimmerman, leading to nationwide protests that intensified when Zimmerman was later acquitted of murder.)
Tidal raised the funds were raised during the October 2015 Tidal X concert at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, where Jay Z, Beyoncé, Prince, Nicki Minaj, Usher, Lil Wayne, and other major talents took the stage.
Nonprofit organization New World Foundation is in charge of distributing Tidal’s donations to Black Lives Matter and many other civil-rights groups such as Hands Up United, NY Justice League, the Oscar Grant Foundation, the Trayvon Martin Foundation, and New York: Million Hoodies.
This move by Jay Z is not unprecedented. Billboard reported last year that he and Beyoncé had donated money to help bail out protesters who’d been arrested in demonstrations in Ferguson and Baltimore. And, though Tidal had a bit of a rocky start (technically and public-image-wise), this generous gift goes a long way towards improving the streaming service’s image.
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Text Laura Vogel
Photography via Flicker user Whittlz via Creative Commons