The music producer went into damage control expeditiously after fans started dragging the music platform after it announced its upcoming Verzuz is only by paid subscriptions.
Verzuz was launched in 2020 during the lockdowns brought on by the pandemic and quickly grew to around 2 million followers on Instagram with a dedicated following. As business would have it, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland made a big bag after selling the franchise to Thriller.
It seems though, that for Thriller to make back its money, people would have to pay to view the match-ups, and fans of Verzuz were not having it when the franchise announced its latest Verzuz with Anthony Hamilton vs. Musiq Soulchild won’t be available for free on Instagram.
While promoting the upcoming event, Verzuz made the declaration that, unlike other Verzuz that was also streamed live and free on Instagram, this event would not be the same.
“This Verzuz will not be on IG. Watch on VerzuzTV.Com with #TrillerVerzPass,” the post read.
Fans on Twitter were quick to predict that Verzuz would crash and burn as fans who made the platform popular only did so because it was free.
According to a start-page on the Thriller app, to view the event, fans would need to join a 14-day free trial, while ongoing memberships cost $2.99 a month.
Swizz Beatz on Tuesday explained that he had nothing to do with the decision and did not know what happened as he said the event will be free despite the previous pronouncements.
“See y’all rite here tomorrow on insta,” he said before plugging the HD version on the Verzuz website.
“I was out the country don’t ask me who did it,” he wrote with a laughing emoji. “It’s fixed. Bless up.”
Meanwhile, Musiq Soulchild and Anthony Hamilton are set to spar with a night of musical hits. The event begins at 8:30 EST tonight.
