Sprint Buys 33% of TIDAL
May 12, 2017
Tidal, the artist-owned music streaming service run by Jay-Z, has secured a major
partnership with cellular service provider Sprint. Sprint Corp. has agreed to acquire a 33% stake
in the service. Going up against industry giants such as Apple Music and Spotify, the $200
million deal could be the saving grace for the streaming service.
The self proclaimed “artist-owned coalition” has artists such as Alicia Keys, Daft Punk,
Kanye West, and Jack White each owning a stake in the company. These artists periodically
release exclusive content through the TIDAL app. According to a Sprint spokesperson, Jay Z and
his fellow artist-owners will retain equity in the streaming service.
What’s in it for Sprint? The deal makes Spring Chief Executive Marcelo Claure a
member of the Tidal board. Also, all of Sprint’s 45 million customers will gain access to the
exclusive content on TIDAL via free subscriptions, and Sprint customers can use TIDAL without
worrying about using up all of their data. With cellular providers like AT&T and T-Mobile each
offering their own data-free streaming partnerships, Sprint’s new deal should help boost their
revenue.
The $200 million deal should also help TIDAL’s performance. One of TIDAL’s flaws
according to consumers if their lack of a free ad-based subscription. In 2016, TIDAL was
accused of releasing incorrect user reports. Assuming the majority of Sprint users hop on the
TIDAL wagon, TIDAL should soon see a significant increase in their amount of users.