Apple (AAPL) Said to Pursue Jay-Z's Tidal

Apple is considering buying Jay Z's music streaming service, Tidal.
By Krishna Thakker ,

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Apple (AAPL) - Get Report is considering buying Jay Z's music service Tidal, because of its strong connection to big name artists such as Madonna and Kanye West, CNBC's Don Faber reported on "Squawk on the Street" Friday morning. 

Apple music has about 15 million paid subscribers that pay $10 per month.

Tidal has approximately 3 million to 4 million paid subscribers, those numbers were boosted by the release of Beyonce's "Lemonade" in April.

It is unclear as to how Tidal's exclusive content from artists would translate over to Apple music or how Jay Z's mission to promote artist power and independence in the value of music would translate if he sells, after less than two years in, to the biggest name in digital business, CNBC's Jon Fortt said.

"It would make more sense if you were to sell out to maybe Amazon (AMZN), for example, which has a history of keeping Zappos and like properties independent after buying them. Maybe give some different kind of leverage in digital music," Fortt said.

Spotify, the biggest music streaming provider, is not making money but promises on volume that the economics will work.

Apple on the other hand is built on iTunes, the iPod, and the iPhone. Apple music is a very small aspect of its business to worry about making money on music itself, Fortt explained.

But that is what Tidal was created to do, to make money off of music again, he added.

"Selling out to Apple does not necessarily accelerate that," Fortt said.

Shares of Apple (AAPL) are trading up by 0.62% to $96.19 Friday afternoon.

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