It’s been rumored that Apple was in talks to acquire Tidal, the streaming-music service run by Jay Z.
Apple is reportedly exploring the idea of bringing on Tidal to bolster its Apple Music service because of Tidal’s strong ties to popular artists such as Kanye West, Beyonce and Rihanna.
Jay Z bought the service in March 2015 for $56 million from Swedish company Aspiro, which had created the brand Tidal. He has given 19 famous artists and bands small stakes in Tidal and promised each millions of dollars worth of marketing, according to people familiar with the matter.
A Tidal spokesman however maintains Tidal executives hadn’t held talks with Apple.
Tidal has reported 4.2 million paying subscribers, most of whom it amassed this year with a string of exclusive releases from stars including Ye, Beyonce and Rihanna.
Tidal is also the only service offering the catalog of the late pop star Prince, who was wary of other streaming services but had a close relationship with Jay Z.
While the Tidal has some of the largest celebrity supporters in their back pocket, it hasn’t prevented the experienced management turmoil that has occurred. The company churned through three chief executives, one of them interim and one appointed by prior management, in less than a year. Jeff Toig, former chief business officer of SoundCloud, a Berlin-based audio-sharing service, has been CEO since January.
This celebrity support has resulted in Tidal building an artist-friendly reputation, thanks to its artist ownership, high-quality sound and the fact that it only offers paid subscriptions, which generate far more for the industry than ad-supported services.
Spotify AB, by contrast, has irked some stars by refusing to let them limit their music to its paid tier. As a result, artists such as Taylor Swift and Adele have withheld new releases from the entire service, with Adele only making her 2015 album “25” available on Spotify this month.
A deal with Tidal would bring two of the most legendary names in hip-hop to Apple’s camp, uniting East Coast and West Coast rap under a single business interest.
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