Kanye West wants Apple to buy Tidal, calls for executive meeting

Posted:
in General Discussion edited July 2016
Rapper Kanye West in a minor tweet storm on Saturday called on Apple to purchase Apple Music competitor Tidal, saying he wants to put an end to the "beef" between the two streaming music providers.




West said Apple's rivalry with Tidal is a detriment to the music industry, and he's calling on executives from both companies to come together to discuss sale terms. Specifically, he wants to meet with Apple CEO Tim Cook, Beats cofounder Jimmy Iovine, Apple Music Larry Jackson and Tidal owner Jay-Z -- as well as Drake, for some reason -- this week. He later added Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek to the list of execs he wants at the table.

"F--- all this dick swinging contest. We all gon [sic] be dead in 100 Years. Let the kids have the music," West said. In an apparent reference to late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, he added, "Apple give Jay his check for Tidal now and stop trying to act like you Steve."

While he failed to elaborate, West is likely referring to negotiations related to a potential Tidal acquisition. In June, Apple was said to be mulling a purchase of the smaller streaming service, assumedly for access to exclusive releases.

When Jay-Z relaunched Tidal last year, he divvied up minor ownership rights to big-name artists like West, Beyonc?, Daft Punk, Alicia Keys, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Chris Martin, Rihanna, Usher, Jack White and others. A number of minority owners have since released albums on the service as windowed exclusives, including West, who begged fans to subscribe after the debut of his last album, "Life of Pablo."

Despite an all-star content lineup, Tidal in March announced a paid subscriber base of only 3 million users. At the time, Apple Music's base came in at 11 million paying subscribers, a figure that has since grown to more than 15 million customers. Both services pale in comparison to market leader Spotify, which boasts some 30 million subscribers.

As for Apple, the company is focused on providing users with exclusive streaming music content, but it remains unclear if that means bidding for a competing service. Apple already dabbles in original content creation, including financing music videos, documentaries and other digital media. The collaborative strategy, fostered by Larry Jackson, has yielded exclusives from Eminem, Drake, Taylor Swift, M.I.A., Future, Chance the Rapper and more.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 83
    dreyfus2dreyfus2 Posts: 1,072member

    There is no "beef"here. The, aptly named, Tidal is under water and Apple does not give a shit, as they should.

    Music streaming is an attention-share business for brain-dead shareholders. You are losing money on every customer, and investors reward you for every new customer. Music and "making it up in volume" are strange bedfellows.

    Even more strangely, R.E.M.'s "How the West was won and where it got us" is streaming out of my Zeppelin right now :-| ?
    nolamacguycalirobin huberDeelronjbdragon
  • Reply 2 of 83
    michelb76michelb76 Posts: 612member
    lol 'beef'...it's simple competition...let the market speak..
    trollkillertomkarlcaliDeelrondoozydozenhcrefugeejahbladejbdragon
  • Reply 3 of 83
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member
    Give it up Kanye, you noisome specimen of humanity.  He's hoping he can BS Apple into doing a Beats kind of deal because he knows Apple have the deepest pockets on the planet and probably thinks that means they will be both generous and nonchalant about enriching him, which is why he didn't mention Spotify or Deezer.  I am anticipating significant schadenfreude at watching them reject him and the subsequent withering of Tidal and his investment.
    tomkarlstevenozDeelrondoozydozenhcrefugeelatifbpjbdragonbaconstangargonaut
  • Reply 4 of 83
    JanNLJanNL Posts: 327member
    What a child! Looking at the last half year, it was KW who was "dick swinging". And what's his position to call on CEO's and other executives...
    tomkarlcaliswp2Deelrondoozydozenhcrefugeejbdragonbrucemc
  • Reply 5 of 83
    Or, Apple could, you know, let Tidal Die and not pay one cent.
    williamlondontomkarlstevenozswp2Deelronchiadoozydozenjbdragonstompycornchip
  • Reply 6 of 83
    williamhwilliamh Posts: 1,032member
    I'll be very disappointed if this works for the dumb ass. 
    tomkarlrobin huberswp2doozydozenSpamSandwichbrucemcmac_dogtallguynostrathomasstantheman
  • Reply 7 of 83
    subbiessubbies Posts: 71member
    Shut up Kangay West. 
    swp2jbdragonzeus423skelington
  • Reply 8 of 83
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    If Trump was a musician; if Kanye was a politician: virtually nothing would change. Those two clearly have similar mental illnesses.
    edited July 2016 slprescotttomkarlcalirevenantstevenozrobin huberswp2chialostkiwidoozydozen
  • Reply 9 of 83
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    subbies said:
    Shut up Kangay West. 
    This is a homosexual joke is it? Why that?
    edited July 2016 tomkarlnolamacguytmayDeelronchiadoozydozenmacxpressclemynxlondormac_dog
  • Reply 10 of 83
    dreyfus2 said:

    There is no "beef"here. The, aptly named, Tidal is under water and Apple does not give a shit, as they should.

    Apple should offer $0.05 on the dollar. Well, that's all it is worth, half a dime.
    Kanye is up to his eyeballs in debt. There is no way Apple should even reduce that by $1.99.

    stevenozjbdragonSpamSandwichlongpath
  • Reply 11 of 83
    uroshnoruroshnor Posts: 99member
    dreyfus2 said:

    There is no "beef"here. The, aptly named, Tidal is under water and Apple does not give a shit, as they should.

    Apple should offer $0.05 on the dollar. Well, that's all it is worth, half a dime.
    Kanye is up to his eyeballs in debt. There is no way Apple should even reduce that by $1.99.

    There's an argument that JayZ ought to be paying Apple if he wants them to save him the trouble of having to deal with Kanye.

    Apple buying Tidal only makes sense if they wanted to stop someone else funding it , and though the artist exclusivity was worth it - it's a marginally better proposition than buying Pono Music, but 3 million subscribers is only a few months growth of Apple Music.

    As a musician, surely you'd want  to go exclusive with Apple, over Tidal any day of the week. Yes your percentage is lower, but Apple is a much bigger base, develops artists and at their most frustrating are very pleasant compared to dealing with Kanye.
    lostkiwiSpamSandwichlongpath
  • Reply 12 of 83
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member
    ireland said:
    subbies said:
    Shut up Kangay West. 
    This is a homosexual joke is it? Why that?
    kudos man. the homophobia on this site is ugly.
    tomkarltmayai46Deelrondoozydozenmontrosemacslatifbpbrucemcmacxpresslondor
  • Reply 13 of 83
    Sounds like a good deal can be made and would put Apple in spitting distance of Spotify. Can be bought for a " song". Apple Music started it all. iPod anyone?
  • Reply 14 of 83
    Kanye West on Apple Music... Just like Dug the dog.   Blah, blah, blah.  SQUIRREL!

    https://goo.gl/images/Mw80fZ


  • Reply 15 of 83
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    Apple bought Beats Music which was co-founded by a hip-hop artist, so now Kanye thinks Apple is responsible for buying out Tidal's service because it was co-founded by a hip-hop artist. Will the next article be Ringo Starr saying Apple needs to buy Pono from Neil Young?


    PS: I still haven't tried Apple Music. I guess I just prefer to own my music.
    swp2pscooter63macseekerjbdragonbrucemclongpathargonautmassconn72
  • Reply 16 of 83
    slprescottslprescott Posts: 765member
    Kanye, you boasted how your music would never ever be on Apple Music. Well dude, deal with the consequences.
    tomkarlcalinolamacguyindyfxstevenozswp2pscooter63Deelronmacseekerchia
  • Reply 17 of 83
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator
    First, I wouldn't characterize Apple Music, signing up 15 million paying subs in less than a year, pale in comparison to a service that signed up twice that many in 8 years.  

    Regarding Tidal, everyting has its price.  For sure, in Apple's hands, Tidal's exclusives are worth more than in Tidal's hands as an independent service.  Such is the dynamic of a small player potentially selling out to a very large players.  But should an Apple offer be based upon the value they might realize from having Tidal aboard, or based upon what Tidal is worth on its own?  Somewhere between is a fair price, and no doubt there's a number in Apple's mind to take out this smaller player.  With the antagonism that's existed set aside and this looked at as a business opportunity, I think there's reason for Apple to consider a bid.  Whether the minds at Tidal would feel that's appropriate is another matter.
    edited July 2016 calinolamacguyrobin huberDeelrondoozydozen
  • Reply 18 of 83
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    No one should listen to Kanye. He's a moron. 
    tomkarlmacseekerjbdragonbdkennedy1002brucemclongpathmassconn72
  • Reply 19 of 83
    tundraboytundraboy Posts: 1,884member
    He doesn't realize that if the CEOs of the music streaming companies hold a meeting to end the "dick swinging contest", that would be collusion which would get them all in very serious trouble with the DoJ.
    edited July 2016 slprescottnolamacguyindyfxrobin huberpscooter63doozydozenmacsince1988hcrefugeebrucemclongpath
  • Reply 20 of 83
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    He has some points to be fair. It just seems weird that he's calling a meeting among CEOs. Who is he to be demanding that on Twitter?
    doozydozenlongpath
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