WSJ: Apple Negotiates to Acquire Tidal Music Service

Apple would like to take over a music service again. The company would negotiate an acquisition of Tidal, a streaming service from rapper Jay Z that has the support of a large number of artists because Tidal would distribute income more fairly.

Apple is said to have set its sights on Tidal to improve its own Apple Music service. Negotiations are still ongoing and it is not certain that they will result in a takeover, writes the Wall Street Journal, which has good sources within Apple. Tidal spokespersons deny to the newspaper that there are talks with Apple.

Tidal is originally a Swedish music service that was acquired in March 2015 by rapper Jay Z. He gave 19 artists a share in the company, including Kanye West, Madonna, Rihanna, Usher and Beyoncé. Jay Z promised that his service would pay artists better than competing services.

Tidal further tries to distinguish itself with exclusive albums by artists. The service has 4.2 million paid subscribers. Spotify has 30 million paying users, Apple Music 15 million.