Sprint To Save Tidal?

Jay Z may well have far more than 99 problems if Tidal’s performance in comparison to the likes of Apple Music and Spotify so far is anything to go by. However, this hasn’t stopped telecoms firm Sprint from snapping up 33% of the service for an undisclosed fee.

Sprint will promote Tidal to its 45m+ customers in the US, with Tidal providing “exclusive content that will only be available to current and new Sprint customers”.

Sprint is also launching a “dedicated marketing fund specifically for artists” as part of the deal.

Jay Z commented: “Sprint shares our view of revolutionising the creative industry to allow artists to connect directly with their fans and reach their fullest, shared potential”.

Spring CEO Marcelo Claure also gushed forth, clearly relishing the fact that he is now on first name terms with Hove: “Jay saw not only a business need, but a cultural one, and put his heart and grit into building Tidal into a world-class music streaming platform that is unrivalled in quality and content”.

Claure continued: “The passion and dedication that these artist-owners bring to fans will enable Sprint to offer new and existing customers access to exclusive content and entertainment experiences in a way no other service can”.

It’s a significant move, exposing Tidal to an additional potential 45m customers that could be attracted to the exclusive major releases secured by the platform and it suggests that the final nail is not yet in the coffin. But will it be enough?

The deal was done just after Tidal was apparently exposed as having allegedly inflated its user numbers. A report published in Norwegian by the newspaper Dagens Næringsliv states that Tidal has over-reported its subscriber numbers on at least two occasions in press releases and tweets.