As per the reports of Wall Street Journal, Apple Inc. (AAPL) is in exploratory talks to buy Jay Z’s Tidal – a live music streaming service owned by Jay Z. The negotiation is being done by unidentified group of people.
As per the newspaper ongoing discussion might not result into an agreement. However, Apple Inc. and Tidal representative are yet to comment on the issue.
Apple & Tidal
Deal with the smaller competitor may gave Apple access to élite music created by high-profile artists starting from Beyonce to Rihanna. It will also attract subscribers for having a service of their own. However, the tech giant has revamped Apple music store that was introduced a year back. Initial Apple music has not a great response but these live music streaming negotiation could lead to an over-whelming response among users. Post Tidal Apple is also planning to secure rights of Kanye West’s album “The Life of Pablo. It will also make it the very first to stream Kanye West’s album.
After a year the purchase of Jay Z’s parent company in $56 million deal in March 2015, Tidal guaranteed trouble. As per Tidal, it had over 3 million paid subscribers compared to Apple’s 15 million and Spotify’s 30 million subscriber list.
Post-acquisition, Tidal has also swapped their top management numerous times. An effort to sell Tidal’ service to Samsung Electronics Co. also failed, according to Variety’s March report.
As per Olivier Nusse, Universal Music France’s Chief Executive Officer, live music streaming business has become extremely competitive today. According to him, Tidal and Apple Music collaboration is not a good news.
