Jay Z Streaming Boss Quits After Three Months

The chief executive of Jay Z's music streaming service Tidal has quit after just three months in the job.

Peter Tonstad only took the helm as interim boss in April after Tidal axed previous chief executive Andy Chen.

At the time Tidal said Mr Tonstad "has a better understanding of the industry and a clear vision for how the company is looking to change the status quo".

Hip hop mogul Jay Z bought Aspiro (Other OTC: ASPPF - news) , the company behind Tidal's technology, for $56m in January and launched the service at a star-studded event in March.

The service was designed to give a bigger share of profits to artists rather than middle men.

But it has struggled to attract users and quickly fell out of the top 800 chart on Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) 's app store.

Tidal claims around 800,000 subscribers, compared to Spotify's 20 million.

As well as competing against Spotify, the company faces a new squeeze when Apple launches its own streaming music service on 30 June.

In a statement Tidal said: "We are thankful to Peter for stepping in as interim CEO and wish him the best for the future.

"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."

Both Tidal and Spotify cost £10 a month in the UK, but Tidal also offers a higher-quality audio feature for £20 a month.

Apple's music service is likely to be incredibly popular, with a three-month free trial being offered to iPhone and iPad users followed by a similar pricing structure to Spotify.