Sources split on alleged acquisition talks between Apple and Tidal
Two newer claims differ on whether Apple is in talks about possibly acquiring Tidal, one of its rivals in the streaming music space.
The existence of talks, originally reported by the Wall Street Journal, has allegedly been confirmed by sources for Re/code. However Ben Sisario -- a writer for the New York Times -- cited "two highly placed sources" as saying that Apple will not buy Tidal.
The Journal noted that Apple was in "exploratory talks" that might not result in a deal. The company occasionally engages in such negotiations -- one rumor suggested that Apple raised the idea of buying Time Warner in 2015, but never took things beyond a preliminary stage.
Since there are few if any major technical differences between Tidal and Apple Music, a takeover would mostly allow Apple to remove a competitor from the marketplace and fill in gaps in exclusives. While Apple Music regularly offers exclusives of its own, Tidal has been able to draw listeners with temporary or permanent exclusives from artists like Beyonce, Prince, Rihanna, and Kanye West.
Apple could theoretically absorb Tidal's 4 million subscribers into its current pool of 15 million people, but as with Beats Music the service presumably wouldn't shut down right away, and some customers might choose to jump ship for alternatives like Spotify.
The existence of talks, originally reported by the Wall Street Journal, has allegedly been confirmed by sources for Re/code. However Ben Sisario -- a writer for the New York Times -- cited "two highly placed sources" as saying that Apple will not buy Tidal.
The Journal noted that Apple was in "exploratory talks" that might not result in a deal. The company occasionally engages in such negotiations -- one rumor suggested that Apple raised the idea of buying Time Warner in 2015, but never took things beyond a preliminary stage.
Since there are few if any major technical differences between Tidal and Apple Music, a takeover would mostly allow Apple to remove a competitor from the marketplace and fill in gaps in exclusives. While Apple Music regularly offers exclusives of its own, Tidal has been able to draw listeners with temporary or permanent exclusives from artists like Beyonce, Prince, Rihanna, and Kanye West.
Apple could theoretically absorb Tidal's 4 million subscribers into its current pool of 15 million people, but as with Beats Music the service presumably wouldn't shut down right away, and some customers might choose to jump ship for alternatives like Spotify.
Comments
Apple Music's family plan is fantastic. It allows me to use Apple Music on any of my devices simultaneously. It is good for family but also good for single person use.
Tidal has lossless quality. But you can't stream that much data without the music freezing due to limited on-air bandwidth. Besides, while driving, the quality improvement is destroyed by road and wind noise. Tidal is only useful for home use.
Apple doesn't need to buy Tidal. If anything, it would be in Apple's best interest to help a competitor stay alive. After all, Apple has no monopoly in any market. Android and Windows keep Apple away from harm.
It doesn't matter if Spotify has more subscribers. All that matters for Apple is to simply create the best product it can. Then customers will line up for blocks - unlike Apple's jealous competitors.
Tidal would be a cheap buy, and get Apple Music some great artists that might want to go beyond video's and music, a great example being Trent Reznor with film scoring.