Apple And Tidal's Talks
The tech giant is rumored to have talks with streaming service for a possible deal
Apple Inc. plans to buy Tidal –a streaming music service carried on by the rapper Jay Z, according to the sources privy to the matter.
The tech giant is looking forward to this acquisition in order to strengthen its already run Apple Music service. Tidal has strong ties to renowned artists like Madonna and Kanye West.
According to the credible sources, the tête-à-têtes are still going on and has not yet concluded into a cohesive deal. Also, the terms and conditions of the possible deal have been coveted.
The rap mogul acquired Tidal for a financial worth of $56 million in March 2015 from Aspiro –a Swedish company. Sources close to the matter have revealed that Jay Z has given a small fraction of stake in Tidal to nineteen renowned bands and artist and has guaranteed millions of dollars worth of marketing for each of them.
A spokesman representing Tidal has denied the news of Apple and Tidal recent talks.
The service has an impressive library of close to 40 million high-fidelity version songs which can be enjoyed on monthly charges of $20. The standard quality sound is also available at half the price at $10. According to the data disclosed by the company, it has around 4.2 million paying subscribers. A large number of subscribers have availed the service after it exclusively offered the release from famous stars including Beyoncé –who is Jay Z’s wife, Mr. West, and Rihanna. Also, the service is exclusive in offering the music of Prince –the famous pop star who died earlier this year in April –who had shown caution while dealing with streaming services save Tidal because of his close relationship with Jay Z.
The company however has been facing management instability with around three chief executives resigning from their services within a year. Since January, Berlin based audio sharing service SoundCloud’s former chief business officer, Jeff Toig has taken over the position of CEO in the company.
Although financially, Tidal hasn’t generated hefty revenue particularly due to its relatively low number of subscribers as compared to other companies of the fraternity however Jay Z owned service has an artist friendly reputation. This is because of the company’s offering of high-quality sound, its artist ownership, and it sole offering of paid subscriptions. In comparison to other ad-supported services –generally adopted by streaming services –this business model creates far more for the industry.
On the contrary, Spotify AB the subscription streaming frontrunner with close to 70 million free users, in addition to 30 million paid subscribers has annoyed few of the big names when it refused to allow them limit their music to paid tier. Consequently, stars like Adele and Taylor Swift restricted new releases from the entire service. This month, Adele’s only one album dubbed “25” –an album released in 2015 –is available of the site.
Apple Inc. has been actively looking forward in the areas which can guarantee growth to its service businesses. The tech giant’s core product iPhone has been undergoing sluggish growth and the company has to come up with other ways to generate strong revenue. For its own music service, the tech titan has been conducting talks with different artist to gain their trust to let their work available on its site. As of now, the service has paid subscriber totaling 15 million. Time will tell how well the rumored talks concluded.
