Kanye West to Apple Music: Buy out Tidal!

Kanye West, one of the major names behind Jay Z’s streaming service Tidal, wants Apple Music to buy it out before their competition ruin the music industry.

West hit out on Twitter: “This Tidal Apple beef is fing up the music game … I need Tim Cook Jay Z Dez Jimmy Larry me and Drake Scooter on the phone or in a room this week!!! …

“We all gon be dead in 100 Years. Let the kids have the music. Apple give Jay his check for Tidal now and stop trying to act like you Steve (sic).”

West is calling out Apple CEO Tim Cook, Apple Music advisor Jimmy Iovine, Apple Music rep Drake, and others. The “Steve” of course is the late Steve Jobs, former head of Apple.

For much of this year, analysts have been urging Jay Z to sell Tidal to a technologically savvy company which could solve its technical and PR issues.

Jay Z bought Tidal in March 2015 from Aspiro, a small Swedish company, for $56 million. Tidal went for the high-end of streaming customers, charging twice as much for a superior sound.

But it had some rough issues. The star-power of Tidal’s new owners lead to a surge in subscribers, which the system could not cope with. There were album and customer data leaks. Major executives came and went. Tidal’s subscription figures rose to 4.2 million – a long way from Spotify’s 30 million.

A class action was filed against Tidal and Kanye West over the veracity of their claims that his The Life of Pablo album was a Tidal exclusive. The lawsuit claimed that many people took out Tidal subscriptions to access Pablo. But after a period, The Life of Pablo appeared on other streaming services.

There were rumours Samsung would be Tidal’s buyer after Jay-Z was seen at its headquarters. It turned out Samsung’s involvement was in tour sponsorship for the rapper and his wife Beyonce.

In June, the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was in talks to acquire Tidal. West’s tweet tirade last Saturday (July 30) indicated that talks weren’t going smoothly.

West, of course, has his own beef to keep him busy, this one between his wife Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift over whether Swift had seen the lyrics to Famous before it was released. Turned she had,

He made mention of it when he appeared onstage with Drake: “I’m so glad my wife has Snapchat. ’Cause now y’all can know the truth,” he yelled out to the crowd. “And can’t nobody talk shit about Ye no more!”

“I am so glad my wife has snpachat. Cause now y’all can know the truth.” – Kanye West pic.twitter.com/aoYhprCieR

— DistinctHype (@DistinctHype) July 28, 2016