Kanye West breaks promise and gives The Life of Pablo wide release

Kanye West has put his album The Life Of Pablo on wide release after promising fans it would only be available on Jay Z's Tidal streaming service.

Kanye's long-awaited seventh studio album was released in February (16), but it was only available on the artist-owned platform fronted by Jay Z.

The Jesus Walks musician had declared that only Tidal users would be able to listen to the record, however on Friday (01Apr16) it was made available to users of iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify and other major music services.

He also directed fans to buy the record on his personal website.

And bosses at his Def Jam label have told the New York Times newspaper "a newly updated, remixed and remastered version" of the album would be available on all services by the end of Friday.

They also indicated that Kanye would continue to tweak the album, saying, "In the months to come, Kanye will release new updates, new versions and new iterations of the album".

Releasing The Life of Pablo widely marks a surprising change of heart for the hip hop star - shortly after the release, he took to Twitter and wrote: "My album will never never never be on Apple. And it will never be for sale... You can only get it on Tidal."

The first sign that Kanye was perhaps altering his sales strategy came earlier this week (beg28Mar16) when two songs from the album, I Love Kanye and Famous, hit Spotify and iTunes.

Several tracks on the record have also been altered since their initial Tidal release. Over the Easter weekend (26-27Mar16), Kanye also shared a new version of his song Ultralight Beam, titled Ultralight Prayer, alongside a simple message to his fans, as he posted a link to the track alongside the message "Happy Easter".