In 2014, Apple bought Beats, the headphones and music service owned by Dr. Dre and music mogul Jimmy Iovine. Now, the company is in talks to buy Jay Z's music streaming service, Tidal, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing "people familiar with the matter." The deal would unite "East Coast and West Coast rap under a single business interest," The Journal notes, but it would also expand Apple's growing Apple Music empire and potentially give the consumer electronics giant access to Tidal's roster of top artists. A Tidal spokesman said no company executives have met with Apple.
Tidal, which doesn't offer a free service, says it has 4.2 million paying subscribers, while Apple Music reports 15 million paying subscribers. Spotify, in contrast, has some 30 million paying and 70 million free users. Tidal's subscription numbers have grown in the past year due to exclusive online access to music by musicians like Beyoncé, Kanye West, Rihanna, and Prince. "I would be surprised if this doesn't happen," music industry analyst Bob Lefsetz tells USA Today. Apple is "at war with Spotify," and Tidal has "very limited options," he added. "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."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Missionaries using tech to contact Amazon's Indigenous peopleWealthy US-backed evangelical groups are sending drones to reach remote and uncontacted tribes, despite legal prohibitions
-
August 3 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include a human data center, Donald Trump's enterprising spirit, and more
-
5 darkly funny cartoons about Israel blocking aid to GazaCartoons Artists take on forcing famine, avoiding aid, and more
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
A potential railway megamerger raises monopoly questionsThe Explainer Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern would create the country's largest railway operator
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliablespeed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutinySpeed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress codespeed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
