I'll check out Deezer, thanks D.
Could be royalties, but the entire Sony catalog is not removed. MJ Thriller is still visible.
Could be thinning the herd, but 1920s artists Bix Beiderbecke and Artur Schnabel are still on Tidal. Who listens to them?
Surely EWF's #1 records that were danced to by the current 55yo very spendy demographic still has commercial value. Something else is going on that we don't know.
It could be that Sony is shooting bullets across Tidal's bow by selectively banning the streaming of some titles to show Tidal what they could do if payments don't improve. Just doesn't make sense. A lawsuit would be more convincing and would not harm fans by shutting off their music.