Apple might buy Jay Z's Tidal music streaming service

Apple's iTunes streaming services are doing great, but there is always room for improvement. In this case, the Cupertino giant is looking to add more content to its portfolio, and buying Jay Z's Tidal seems like a logical choice. However, the deal is still far from complete.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Apple Inc. is in talks to acquire Tidal, a streaming-music service run by rap mogul Jay Z, according to people familiar with the matter." While these talks might not end up in a corporate acquisition anytime soon, this is a topic worth checking out.

Apple is trying hard to offer as many exclusive iTunes releases as possible, and Drake's latest album is one example. On the other hand, after buying Tidal for $56 million back in March 2015, Jay Z teamed up with big names in the industry such as Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Daft Punk, Rihanna, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Usher, and others. All these stars are co-owners of the service and, in exchange, Tidal gets exclusive rights to many of their albums. For example, Kanye's new album was only available for streaming via Tidal for a few weeks, and now Beyonce’s visual album "Lemonade" can only be enjoyed here as well.

Apple Music currently has 15 million paying subscribers while Spotify has no less than 30 million. Back in March 2016, Tidal unveiled it has more than 3 million subscribers across 31 countries. Of those, almost half are using the $19.99 USD HiFi offering.