Apple Inc. is said to be in early talks to purchase Jay Z’s Tidal streaming-music service, reported Wall Street Journal on Thursday (June 30th).
Apple, who has its own streaming music subscription with Apple Music, garnered over 15 million subscribers in less than a year (launched June 30th, 2015), whereas Tidal’s last official count in March pegged the service at 3 million. Spotify remains the largest service with 30 million subscribers.
“I would be surprised if this doesn’t happen. First and foremost, Tidal has very limited options,” Bob Lefsetz, a music industry analyst, told USA TODAY. “Jay Z bought it to sell it and who’s going to buy it? Amazon is the only other option and it’s going in a different direction.”
“There is huge motivation for Apple to buy it,” Lefsetz says. “It’s at war with Spotify.”
The rap mogul acquired Tidal for $56 million in March 2015, launching the streaming service during a star-studded event, featuring wife Beyonce, Madonna and Kanye West.
West recently brought attention to the platform by releasing a provocative music video for his single “Famous,” from his The Life of Pablo album – whom which Girl’s actress Lena Dunham called “disturbing.”
