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Apple Exploring Tidal Acquisition

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Melody Bot, Jul 1, 2016.

  1. Melody Bot Jul 1, 2016
    Melody Bot

    Your friendly little forum bot. Staff Member

    This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

    Daisuke Wakabayashi, Hannah Karp, and Patience Haggin, writing for the Wall Street Journal on how Apple is apparently looking into buying Tidal:


    The talks are ongoing and may not result in a deal, these people said. Apple is exploring the idea of bringing on Tidal to bolster its Apple Music service because of Tidal’s strong ties to popular artists such as Kanye West and Madonna.
    ​

    I’m not sure if this makes much sense, but Nick Heer nails what has to be the thinking:


    One of the ways they differentiate themselves is to swoon artists enough for them to make their newest releases exclusive to a platform for a short amount of time before it’s generally released. A bunch of these exclusives over the past year went to Apple Music, but those they didn’t get — the newest albums from Kanye West, Rihanna, Beyoncé, and other high-profile artists — all went to Tidal. If Apple were to maintain those relationships post-acquisition and keep the ones they have, they’d have the exclusive release market effectively cornered.
    ​

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  2. jpmalone4 Jul 1, 2016
    jpmalone4

    Stay Lucky Supporter

    If Apple bought Tidal, wouldn't that directly run counter to Tidal's raison d'etre? I thought Tidal's whole point was artistic ownership/control. Is it really worth putting a struggling competitor out of business just for 4M subscribers?
     
  3. tdlyon Jul 1, 2016
    tdlyon

    Most Dope Supporter

    I'm not a businessman, I''m a business, man
     
  4. skogsraet Jul 2, 2016
    skogsraet

    Trusted Supporter

    Wouldn't this be the exact type of acquisition the FTC would want to put a stop to for fair competition? Apple acquiring Tidal would leave essentially just Apple and Spotify competing for streaming, which, while it won't affect businesses outside the industry the way the FTC is typically concerned with, surely violates laws regarding monopolization? All speculation as I don't know enough about the FTC to figure if they'd pay much mind!
     
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  6. mescalineeyes Jul 2, 2016
    mescalineeyes

    I wanna dance to me Prestigious

    Apple Music and Tidal have largely the same business model. Both are without a free-tier, which is why Tidal was started in the first place -- as a counter-movement to Spotify literally giving away music for free. (Obviously except for the fact that Tidal's higher tier offers high quality music, which is not something Apple would struggle to implement if they really wanted to.)

    That said, it's been widely reported that Jay-Z is looking for a payday when it comes to Tidal as his investment didn't quite pan out.
     
    coleslawed likes this.
  7. coleslawed Jul 2, 2016
    coleslawed

    Eat Pizza

    probably, yes.