When Jay Z acquired Tidal from the Swedish company, Aspiro for $56 million in March 2015, it was touted as the streaming service that would give real value to the artists, chiding the likes of Spotify. Jay Z even went ahead to give 19 famous artists and bands small stakes in Tidal and promised each millions of dollars worth of marketing.
So it is strange when the Wall Street Journal reports that Apple Inc. is in talks to acquire Tidal.
WSJ reports that Apple is exploring the idea of bringing on Tidal to bolster its Apple Music service because of Tidal’s strong ties to popular artists such asKanye West and Madonna.
However it also remarks that “The talks are ongoing and may not result in a deal”
Well Tidal might be actually priming itself for acquisition as it has not been very rosy for the company. The company has experienced management turbulence, churning through three chief executives, one of them interim and one appointed by prior management, in less than a year.
But it is said that though Tidal hasn’t generated significant revenue for the industry given its relatively low subscriber numbers, it has 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.
Apple acquired Dr Dre’s Beats in May 2014 for $3 billion. Acquiring Jay Z’s Tidal would be an awesome deal which will 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.”
Let’s watch and see.
