Apple In Early Talks To Buy Jay Z’s Tidal

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em?

That may be the logic behind this latest round of news involving Jay Z and technology giant Apple. It’s being reported the two are in the preliminary stages of a deal that would have Apple buying the rapper’s music-streaming service, Tidal.

Various financial outlets are reporting that the music-streaming rivals are set to become one, with Apple buying Tidal in its entirety for a large sum. Bloomberg via The Wall Street Journal has all of the details on the alleged sale and what Apple stands to gain from it.

The report states:

Acquiring the smaller competitor Tidal might give Apple access to exclusive music from high-profile artists ranging from Beyoncé to Rihanna, and help attract subscribers to its own service. The company this month revamped Apple Music, which was introduced a year ago to lukewarm critical reception. Tidal trumped Apple earlier this year in securing the rights to be the first to stream Kanye West’s album “The Life of Pablo.”

Tidal has endured a troubled year since Jay Z bought its parent company for $56 million in March 2015. In a letter sent three months ago, he accused Tidal’s Norwegian seller, Schibsted ASA, of overstating subscriber numbers. Tidal said in March it had more than 3 million paying subscribers, versus Apple’s 15 million and Spotify Ltd.’s 30 million.

Tidal has also replaced its top management several times since the acquisition, and an attempt to sell the service to Samsung Electronics Co. collapsed, Variety reported in March.

While it is very true that Tidal has not had the best of luck within the streaming service arena, what it does have going for it are some of the biggest stars in music who give exclusives that other streaming services don’t have access to. So if Apple buys it, much like it did with Beats By Dre, it allows them top artists exclusives and one less competitor to worry about.

This story is still developing and is likely to change, but whatever the outcome is it should definitely be an interesting one to the music-streaming community.

SOURCE: WSJ | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

Check out more on Tidal here:

Tidal Responds To Wave Of Rumors Claiming The Streaming Service Failed To Pay Artist’s Royalties

The Reason Why Samsung Is Choosing Not To Work With Tidal