Kanye West has taken to Twitter to demand Apple Music purchase Jay Z’s rival music platform Tidal, fuelling speculation that a buyout may be in the offing,
Last month, rumours started circulating that Apple Music was sniffing around its streaming rival with the intent of tabling an offer as part of an on-going effort to gain on market-leader Spotify.
However, with neither party willing to confirm or deny the speculation, talk of an acquisition has cooled. Or at least it had until the weekend, when West – a founder Tidal - took to Twitter to air his thoughts on the subject. Needless to say, he didn’t beat around the bush.
Neither party has commented on West’s observations, but he has no doubt brought the discussion to the fore once again.
If a potential Tidal sale ever were to materialise, it would certainly represent a big step for Apple Music in their race to catch Spotify in the market.
In terms of user numbers, it wouldn’t make too much of a dent in Spotify’s market shares. At least initially it wouldn’t. Spotify currently has around 30 million paying subscribers compared to Apple Music’s 15 million. Tidal has around three million.
The real key to the purchase would be keeping Tidal’s army of artist-owners on board. As well as Jay-Z, Tidal has profited – or, at the very least, attracted free trialists – from exclusives from Rihanna and Beyoncé. Apple has built its Spotify onslaught on exclusive deals as well, and you can see why combining exclusive streaming rights for everyone from Taylor Swift to West himself might prove to be a magic bullet to streaming supremacy.
