It was close to one year ago when it was announced that Apple purchased the Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine-owned Beats Electronics and Beats Music for over $3 billion. The music titan has yet to launch their Apple’s Beats service and already a new competitor is seeking the top spot in the streaming music space, according to the New York Post.
The Post reports that Jay Z’s music subscription service, Tidal is seeking to exclusively stream music from a number of artists. The company also plans to take a more artist-friendly approach with its roster of talent.
“Jay Z’s whole approach is, they’re created by artists, supported by artists. The more players, the better,” a label executive said while speaking to the New York Post.
“He’s disrupting Apple’s venture,” a source added.
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Although Tidal is already available to users for $20 a month, Jay Z is scheduled to take part in a live stream today (March 30) at 5 PM EST, announcing his plans with Tidal. Rihanna, Madonna, and Coldplay will reportedly be present at the Tidal event.
Last month, after it was reported that Jay Z’s $56 million bid for the Swedish television and music streaming services company known as Aspiro, which owns Tidal, was close to being rejected due to minority shareholders, it was later revealed that the rapper-turned-entrepreneur’s bid was accepted.
For additional Jay Z coverage, watch the following DX Daily:
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(March 30, 2015)
UPDATE: The press conference is available as a stream below.
(March 30, 2015)
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UPDATE #2: Jay Z announced the launch of Tidal in his press conference today and introduced Alicia Keys, Arcade Fire, Beyonce, Calvin Harris, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Kanye West and Madonna as co-owners of the project, according to Variety.
“Our goal is simple” Alicia Keys said at the launch event. “We want to create a better service… for musicians and consumers.”
Tidal’s mobile partner is Sprint, the story says.
(March 30, 2015)
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UPDATE #3: Shares of Aspiro, the streaming company that owns Tidal, the music streaming service that Jay Z launched yesterday (March 31), rose 938% yesterday, according to Reuters.
The shares were going at 11 Swedish crowns before trading was halted. At the time of the Reuters story, $1 equaled 8.6527 Swedish crowns.
