Is Samsung Buying Jay Z’s TIDAL?
A series of early mis-steps may have left Jay Z wondering what he'd gotten himself into when he bought and renamed the streaming music service now known as TIDAL. But a recent meeting may hint that the artist-entrepreneur has found a golden parachute.
Jay Z held a secret meeting with top executives at Samsung last Wednesday, according to several sources, who suggested that a Samsung/TIDAL partnership or acquisition is under discussion.
The meetings took please at the offices of Samsung Research America, which includes Samsung MSCA, the unit responsible for the electronic giant's content strategy and its Milk Music service.
Jay-Z leaving Samsung corp. in Silicon Valley right now pic.twitter.com/AQAJWzL6lq
— Damian Trujillo (@newsdamian) October 15, 2015
Variety has confirmed that present at the meetings was Daren Tsui, Samsung’s SVP of Content & Services and the executive behind Milk Music.
Milk Music and Video has been a bit of a flop' so TIDAL may be looking for a new way to get involved in music. Of course, one meeting does not a partnership or acquisition make. But for a busy Jay Z to stop by in person suggests that whatever they are talking about is in its advance stages.
After all, even if Samsung just put the TIDAL app pre-loaded on each of the millions of phones it sells each year, it would provide a huge opportunity for the fledgling music streamer.
