On Tuesday, a Wall Street Journal report stated Asipiro AB — the parent company that owns Tidal — posted a net loss of $28 million in 2015 despite a 30 percent increase in revenue compared to 2014. It wasn’t a huge leap, then, to revisit rumors of Apple purchasing the streaming service because the company also only has 4 million subscribers despite all of its music, video, and concert streaming exclusives.
However, it seems like Apple is happy with its growing base of 17 million paid subscribers. When BuzzFeed reporter Reggie Ugwu reached out to the company, Apple Music head Jimmy Iovine shot down the idea of acquiring of Tidal or any other music streaming service. ““We’re really running our own race,” Iovine said. “We’re not looking to acquire any streaming services.”
An acquisition of Tidal, however, would be a big boost to Apple’s stake in the streaming wars. In addition to moving closer to Spotify’s 40 million paid subscribers, the combined service could add a bevy of big artist exclusives including top selling acts like Beyonce, Rihanna, and Kanye West.
A future deal would certainly make West happy. In July, he called for a merger during a Twitter rant which said the “Tidal Apple beef is f*cking up the music game.” To the chagrin of record executives, it’s obvious streaming exclusives aren’t going anywhere soon, and a beefed-up Apple Music would probably make a lot of music fans happy — even if it goes against the idea of free-market competition.
(Via BuzzFeed News)
