Apple in Talks to Acquire Jay Z's Tidal Music Service
June 30 2016 - 7:10PM
Dow Jones News
Apple Inc. is in exploratory talks to acquire Tidal, a
streaming-music service run by rap mogul Jay Z, according to people
familiar with the matter.
The talks are ongoing and may not result in a deal, these people
said. 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 as Kanye West and Madonna.
Terms of the potential deal aren't known.
Jay Z bought the service in March 2015 for $56 million from
Swedish company Aspiro. He launched the service under the brand
Tidal a month later. 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 said Tidal executives had not held talks with
Apple.
Tidal charges $20 a month for a high-fidelity version of its
40-million-song catalog or $10 a month for standard-quality sound.
Tidal said it has 4.2 million paying subscribers.
But the company has experienced management turmoil, churning
through three chief executives, including one hired by previous
management and one interim, in less than a year. Jeff Toig, former
chief business officer of SoundCloud, a Berlin-based audio-sharing
service, has been CEO since January.
Tidal has held exploratory talks beginning last year with other
potential partners, such as the streaming service Rhapsody,
according to a person familiar with the matter. Rhapsody recently
changed its name to Napster.
The news of the talks comes about a year after Apple launched
its own streaming music service, Apple Music. Apple said June 13
that it had 15 million paying subscribers to the $9.99-per-month
service for individuals. The same day, Apple said it would redesign
Apple Music in the fall as part of an update to its iPhone
software, to address complaints that the software was confusing and
hard to navigate.
Apple has been working to secure close relationships with
recording artists. It has provided marketing assistance to artists,
while also helping to pay for music videos for high-profile artists
in exchange for a certain period of exclusivity on Apple Music.
Write to Daisuke Wakabayashi at Daisuke.Wakabayashi@wsj.com,
Hannah Karp at hannah.karp@wsj.com and Patience Haggin at
patience.haggin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 30, 2016 18:55 ET (22:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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