Tidal News RE: Sprint Acquires 33 Percent of Jay Z's Tidal for $200 Million


Jay Z's streaming service Tidal and telecommunications company Sprint announced a new partnership on Monday that will provide 45 million Sprint users with access to Tidal and exclusive content from the platform. In addition, Sprint acquired a 33 percent stake in Tidal, and the company's CEO, Marcelo Claure, will sit on Tidal's Board of Directors. Billboardreports that the company paid approximately $200 million for their share in Tidal.

The two organizations said little about the nature of this exclusive content. Last year, Kanye West's The Life of Pablo and Beyoncé's Lemonade both appeared initially as Tidal exclusives; the platform also streamed a number of live events. As part of the new deal, Sprint plans to establish a "marketing fund" for Tidal artists that seems geared towards generating exclusive content. A rep for Tidal did not immediately clarify a request for comment for specifics, but the fund will allow artists "the flexibility to create and share their work with and for their fans." Billboard reports that this fund will be around $75 million annually.

In a statement, Claure praised Jay Z and the streaming service he oversees. "Jay saw not only a business need, but a cultural one, and put his heart and grit into building Tidal into a world-class music streaming platform that is unrivaled in quality and content," Claure said. "The passion and dedication that these artist-owners bring to fans will enable Sprint to offer new and existing customers access to exclusive content and entertainment experiences in a way no other service can."

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/sprint-buys-33-percent-stake-in-jay-zs-tidal-w462395
hgeifman
I asked Tidal what was the impact of Sprint acquiring a 33 Percent of Jay Z's Tidal.  Tidal reports that "TIDAL will continue to offer uncompressed music and exclusive content".
makes sense for all concerned. tidal was unlikely to ever show a profit as a free-standing enterprise and sprint needs content to compete/survive. i wonder if sprint will start discounting tidal to its subscribers, since that $19.99/mo. is a big impediment to growth.
Jay Z paid $56M for 100% of Tidal a couple years ago - now sells 1/3 for a cool $200M - that was a very good initial investment. 

Good Listening

Peter 
This is a really terrible thing. It means Tidal will now only work in half the places it used to. 

Now wait a minute erik. That "can you hear me now" guy says Sprint is within 1 % of Verizon. ;~)




This is a really terrible thing. It means Tidal will now only work in half the places it used to.
This is good for audiophiles.  As bandwidth has gotten cheaper, full-res and hi-res streaming is getting closer to the mainstream.  Once they can get "Joe Bose" and "Bill Beats" to decide they like the _idea_ of better quality streaming audio, it becomes the new normal.