Tidals Talks Turkey With Apple

Multiple sources have reported that Apple is in “exploratory talks” to potentially buy out the Tidal streaming service.

Photo: Mark VonHolden / Invision for HTC/AP Images

Jay Z hosts the TIDAL X: 1020 Amplified by HTC concert at Barclays Center in Brooklyn Oct. 20. The star-studded affair included Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, and Usher, with $1 million in ticket receipts going to the nonprofit New World Foundation.

Tidal is being shopped around by owner Jay Z, and these talks are at an early stage, according to the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. Apple Music is a direct competitor with Tidal, so many speculate that Apple would consider the deal simply to shrink the streaming music market to two big dogs: Apple, which currently has about 15 million paid subscribers, and Spotify, which has about 30 million.

Recode said Samsung walked away from talks with Tidal earlier in the year and that one other potential buyer could be Google.

Tidal brings a number of exclusive artists like Kanye West and Beyoncé, along with more than 3 million paid subscribers. Jay Z is suing the previous owners of Tidal, Swedish company Aspiro, claiming he was misled as to how many subscribers the service had at the time of the sale.

The Jiggaman and Kanye West are also on the receiving end of a lawsuit that claimed they tricked people into buying subscriptions to Tidal when West tweeted, “My album will never never never be on Apple.”

West’s new album was made available on Spotify and Apple Music a little more than one month after its release.