Sprint takes 33% stake in Tidal; aims to bring the service to its subscribers

Sprint has just announced that they will acquire 33% of the Tidal. JAY Z and the artist-owners will continue to run TIDAL’s artist-centric service, while Sprint’s chief executive officer, Marcelo Claure, will  join TIDAL’s Board of Directors.

“Sprint shares our view of revolutionizing the creative industry to allow artists to connect directly with their fans and reach their fullest, shared potential,” said Jay Z. “Marcelo understood our goal right away and together we are excited to bring Sprint’s 45 million customers an unmatched entertainment experience.”

Exclusive offers and joint promotions are said to be announced soon, but the exact value of the stake is not being disclosed. Tidal has seen mixed results since being taken over by Jay Z, with the company reporting a loss of US$28 million in 2015.

That’s about half the value that Jay Z paid for the company, so you can see how potential access to Sprint’s 45 million customers can be enticing to Tidal. TechCrunch reports that stats provided to them via Apptopia show that the service is far behind that of Pandora and Spotify, with worldwide downloads of just over 2 million compared to the 10 and 32 million for Pandora and Spotify respectively.

Sprint already has partnerships with Spotify and Napster, but it seems like Sprint won’t be promoting these as much as it had in the past. “We will continue to carrier bill for both Spotify and Napster if the customers chooses that an option,” the spokesperson said. “However, the announcement today with TIDAL represents a much broader partnership that includes Sprint’s 33% investment in the company and unmatched experiences for Sprint customers.”

Sprint customers will also be getting exclusive content from Tidal and its artists.

Sources: TechCrunch, Sprint,

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