- Square held talks to buy Jay-Z’s Tidal music streaming platform, according to a new report by Bloomberg.
- Jay-Z bought Tidal in 2015 for $ 56 million and started releasing exclusive releases on the platform, such as Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” album in 2016. However, Tidal has struggled to keep up with players like Spotify.
- The report comes after Dorsey and Jay-Z were seen on vacation together twice this year, once in the Hamptons in August and in Hawaii this month.
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Digital payments processor Square discussed buying Tidal, Jay-Z’s music streaming platform, sources told Bloomberg.
As the vehicle notes, negotiations may not necessarily lead to an acquisition, but the reported discussion may be part of Square’s ongoing strategy to build more autonomous services within its arsenal of offerings.
News of the discussions also came after Square and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was seen on vacation with Jay-Z and Beyoncé this year in New York and, more recently, in Hawaii this month.
Tidal and Square did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
Jay-Z disbursed $ 56 million for the service in 2015 and was publicly supported by names like Alicia Keys, Madonna and Nicki Minaj. High-profile musicians like Kanye West have signed deals to make some exclusive releases for Tidal. Rihanna’s artist gave Tidal an exclusive one-week window for subscribers to broadcast their album “ANTI” in 2015, but the release was spoiled when the album was accidentally released hours ahead of schedule.
Jay-Z’s own music was exclusive to the service, but it was listed on Spotify in 2019, as Bloomberg notes. Beyoncé’s hugely successful album, “Lemonade”, debuted exclusively and unexpectedly on her husband’s platform in 2016. It is now available on Spotify and Apple Music.
Read More: You can now stream Spotify directly to your Apple Watch. This is good news for users and bad news for Apple’s multifunctional subscription strategy.
Tidal was designed to be an alternative to services like Spotify and Pandora and, although it shot to 16th place on the App Store shortly after launch, it has not proven to be a formidable rival for conventional streaming platforms. Spotify criticized business models focused on exclusive releases, saying they are bad for the music industry and for artists. Apple Music also employs exclusive releases as part of its strategy.