The biggest and best stars in the music industry today are always getting cosy with a streaming service, with Drake’s open endorsement of Apple Music plain to see, as well as Jay Z’s own Tidal streaming service. However, Tidal hasn’t been faring too well against the corporate mega-entity that is Apple, and, if reports are accurate, Apple may be about to purchase their rival streaming service out from under the noses of fans.
It’s been a rough year for Tidal, which has changed CEOs three times since it’s 2015 purchase by Jay Z from a Swedish company which created the brand. The service offers high fidelity music as well as regular quality music for a 10 or 20 dollar fee, from a massive library of songs. tidal has a monopoly on some tracks from certain artists, most notably Kanye West, Beyonce, and the late and great Prince.
SEE ALSO: Netflix Beams Up Every Series of Star Trek Ever!
Sources speaking to The Wall Street Journal have said talks are going on between Apple and Tidal executives, but on the public side of things a Tidal spokesperson has denied there are talks. If there was a merger between the companies the combined interests of Apple music and Tidal would create the largest musical business interest worldwide with regards to streaming.
It would definitely be somewhat of a rocky merger though – Kanye West famously updates, tinkers with and adapts his album ‘The Life Of Pablo’ as a sort of evolving creative expression which owners can watch grow and change as and when Kanye feels one of his trademarks flashes of inspiration in the studio.
SEE ALSO: Android N Becomes Android Nougat – When Will You Get It?
Apple on the other hand are somewhat less flexible and notoriously hard to deal with for artists – could they drop their attitude and come to embrace Tidal’s more open platform? It has been said that Jay Z’s service does give artists better control, and even offers investment opportunities for big names wanting a stake in the business. Again, Apple’s multinational corporate philosophy may make this difficult.
Whatever happens between Apple and Tidal, users of both services would do well to stay updated with the news and keep a look out for changes to terms and conditions following any business activities between the two. We’ll report if anything comes down the pipeline at a later date.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Via: Techspot