A thread about Tidal is currently at the very top of Reddit’s front page. Kanye’s latest album is being distributed exclusively via Tidal, a development that put Tidal at the top of the App Store. However, users are unable to access the album. There are rumors that it isn’t even ready for release yet, and the service has been quiet about when people can expect to receive their purchase.

By the time you read this, it will have been resolved and forgotten, but this highlights how a service has once again forgotten the lessons learned through the large-scale piracy of music and video content:

1.) Make it easier to get content through your service than through piracy.

2.) Distribute content in a high-quality format (or at least equal to what people will get through a torrent, anyway).

3.) Charge some amount of money for it. It doesn’t even really matter how much – if you achieve numbers 1 and 2, people will pay for it.

Profit!