Apple is reportedly in negotiations to buy out streaming service Tidal, which is currently principally owned by Jay Z.
Apple is reportedly interested in adding Tidal's pool of exclusive artists and records to their own Apple Music service. While still boasting fewer subscriber numbers than its primary competitor, Spotify, in the last year the number of Tidal subscribers has surged, bolstered by the service's exclusive streaming rights (for a limited time, at least,) to some of 2016's biggest releases, including Beyonce's Lemonade and Kanye West's Life of Pablo. Tidal is also the exclusive streaming home of Prince's entire catalog of music.
Tidal has differentiated itself from other streaming services by supposedly being more artist friendly -- the service offers higher royalty rates per stream (reportedly double) than Spotify. The service has been promoted largely as way of supporting artist directly rather than big labels or corporations, so a buyout by Apple - one of the world's biggest and most profitable corporations -- seems antithetical to Tidal's image.
Tidal executives are currently denying that talks with Apple are even taking place but The Wall Street Journal is reporting that they've talked with sources within the company who confirm that negotiations are currently underway. If the proposed buy out does happen, Jay Z could end up joining Dr. Dre, who became an Apple exc after the tech company bought up Beats by Dre, on the Apple board.
By Michael Lacerna for RAPstation.com
