Jay Z's music streaming service Tidal accidentally took money from former customers

Tidal, the music streaming service owned by rapper Jay Z and a host of other musicians, has accidentally reactivated the accounts of former customers and charged them for the service, The Verge reports.

The service charges a $20 (£14) monthly fee to users, just like Spotify and Apple. But once you tell Tidal that you don't want to use the service anymore, it stops charging you the fee.

Verge reporter Chris Welch noticed that his Tidal account had been reactivated and had started charging him again. Clearly Tidal had retained his information and bank details and accidentally reactivated his account.

Tidal apologised for the error and refunded customers who had been mistakenly charged. It also gave affected customers three months of the service for free, which is a rather neat way of encouraging lapsed customers to use Tidal again.

Jay Z will have been hoping that Tidal could start off 2016 largely free of the drama that surrounded the service in 2015. It lost two CEOs, as well as a series of high-profile executives. The service is fighting for its place in the music streaming world alongside larger and more established streaming service such as Spotify and Apple Music.