A few weeks ago, the first information appeared suggesting that Apple is interested in him buy Tidal, an audio streaming service run by Jay-Z. Trying to deny all the rumors regarding this acquisition, Jimmy Iovine, co-founder of Beats and manager of Apple, announced that Apple will not buy Tidal.
Iovine says that Apple is very happy to work independently and that it is not looking to buy competing audio streaming services from the US or other countries. The interest of those from Apple vis-à-vis Tidal has another motivation, however, Apple wanting to benefit from the very good relationship that the service has with top artists.
Jay-Z is one of the founders of Tidal, but Beyonce and many other important artists from the USA are partners in the company and release a lot of exclusive content for it. Alicia Keys, J. Cole, Nicki Minaj, Chris Martin, Calvin Harris and Kanye West are just a few of them, and getting exclusive content from them for Apple Music would be a huge win for Apple.
Tidal currently has no less than 4.2 million subscription paying customers, i.e. a quarter of what Apple Music has, their integration into the Apple ecosystem could be beneficial for Americans. Of course, Apple must come to an agreement with Jay-Z for an acquisition, and even if Iovine says now that there is no interest, the reality may be completely different.
Here's what Jimmy Iovine had to say: "We have our own plans for development. We are not interested in buying other streaming services.”
