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Uh...more than a few. And not just tech nerds if you read past the forums. Apple has more money than ever, but in a "stronger position"? Arguable. You can thank Steve Jobs for your last statement.

Certainly more than just "a few". Forbes released a spot-on article on the subject. You can read it here.
 
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As powerful as Jay-Z, Kanye and Beyonce are, there is no way Tidal is worth $100 million. But it could be worth something to Apple to be perceived as cool by doing a deal with those three. And Apple does like to have all the music on iTunes.
Easily worth at least $100M..

It has 4M subscribers paying between $10 and $20/mth. That's 4M x $15/mth = $60M/mth.. Using the usual 3 years to pay off a business that's $2B!! But let's say Tim negotiates hard we could be talking around $1B..

Jay-Z will become one very happy man soon..
 
A lot of folks in here would be terrible business people. You don't decide multi-million (billion?) dollar acquisitions based on personal music tastes or the ego of a single participant (West's not the person you'd even be making the deal with, by the way). The fact is, we simply don't have enough information to know if this would be a good move by Apple or not. It may very well be the case that a Tidal acquisition would be a relatively inexpensive way to get catalogs from artists ranging from Jay-Z, Kanye, and Beyoncé to Madonna, Neil Young, and Prince. It doesn't really matter if you think their music is good. They're popular enough, would help fill missing holes in the AppleMusic offering, and — depending on price — could be a great way to get a package deal (rather than reaching out to artists and publisher's individually).

Tidal is in a tougher spot. In addition to West's newest signal of Tidal's weakness, they've been quite vocal that their reason for existing has been in opposition to companies like Apple. How do the artists involved sell what looks like a failed company to Apple while saving face? Some stipulations around "artistic freedom" might have to be worked out.
 
It may very well be the case that a Tidal acquisition would be a relatively inexpensive way to get catalogs from artists ranging from Jay-Z, Kanye, and Beyoncé to Madonna, Neil Young, and Prince.

The holes are not that big though are they?

There is plenty of content on the iTunes Store here in the UK (I checked), of those artists for Apple to say "No, thanks, we've plenty of music, downloaders and subscribers".

Apple can wait until Tidal either fold or practically give the service away for free, Im sure they are in no rush.
 
The holes are not that big though are they?

There is plenty of content on the iTunes Store here in the UK (I checked), of those artists for Apple to say "No, thanks, we've plenty of music, downloaders and subscribers".

Apple can wait until Tidal either fold or practically give the service away for free, Im sure they are in no rush.

True they could wait for that day but why piss off big influencers in the industry. These guys are the content providers not the competition. Just come to an amicable resolution and $1B seems like a small price to pay.
 
I love how we have a guy that's posting essays about music while people declare Apple dead and talk about Kanye West and his wife's *ahem* well endowed features.

What even is macrumors anymore.
 
A lot of folks in here would be terrible business people. You don't decide multi-million (billion?) dollar acquisitions based on personal music tastes or the ego of a single participant (West's not the person you'd even be making the deal with, by the way). The fact is, we simply don't have enough information to know if this would be a good move by Apple or not. It may very well be the case that a Tidal acquisition would be a relatively inexpensive way to get catalogs from artists ranging from Jay-Z, Kanye, and Beyoncé to Madonna, Neil Young, and Prince. It doesn't really matter if you think their music is good. They're popular enough, would help fill missing holes in the AppleMusic offering, and — depending on price — could be a great way to get a package deal (rather than reaching out to artists and publisher's individually).

Tidal is in a tougher spot. In addition to West's newest signal of Tidal's weakness, they've been quite vocal that their reason for existing has been in opposition to companies like Apple. How do the artists involved sell what looks like a failed company to Apple while saving face? Some stipulations around "artistic freedom" might have to be worked out.

Who was making acquisition decisions based on music taste or ego of participants? I was using the balance sheet which is the most important place to look when acquiring a company.

The only thing I agree with you about is the fact there's not enough information hence why I'm speculating on the known facts only. If I knew the whole story the acquisition cost could range from $1 to $2B.
 
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The holes are not that big though are they?

There is plenty of content on the iTunes Store here in the UK (I checked), of those artists for Apple to say "No, thanks, we've plenty of music, downloaders and subscribers".

Apple can wait until Tidal either fold or practically give the service away for free, Im sure they are in no rush.

It still depends on the price. Jay-Z, Beyoncé, and Kanye West are still 3 of the biggest selling artists right now and Apple still doesn't have as many subscribers as Spotify (despite having a much larger overhead of Beats1, all its hosts, and their human curators).

The missing pieces are 1) the acquisition price. 2) the value of any proprietary tech Tidal has 3) the potential value in Tidal artist's release roadmap and back catalogue.

No one can say one way or another without these things.
 
Prince never would have allowed this.
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The term "Producer" is a fuzzy one and it is thrown around very loosely these days, so it's hard to say exactly what a Producer does. So, this is an interesting question-at-large? Can Producer X, Y, or Z walk into an average studio (with the mics, etc. put away, the board zeroed-out, and patchbays clear) and setup a session without an engineer present? Even a playback/stems mix with any written automation turned off? Do most producers know how to mic a drum kit? I'd have to spend a day in the studio as an engineer with West and get back to you on that over a beer. Producers: Kevin Shirley, Kevin Elson, Quincy Jones, Prince, etc.
Prince would never stoop to begging for money. He knew his worth as a TRUE MUSICAL GENIUS. If he got an offer that he didn't like he walked away. Which is why he left Warner Brothers and $100 million on the table. To even say that Kanye is considered a musician next to Prince is a travesty. SMH!
 
Not necessarily. West brings this on himself by making outlandish requests for obscene amounts of money from Mark Zuckerburg, Steve Ballmer and now Apple. He wants others take responsibility for his debt. The things he says and does makes me think he has some sort of mental issues and I am not singling him out or trying to be disrespectful. A normal person does not approach and act the way he does.

You should read some of his Post Twitter rants after this article was posted. He almost is demanding Apple to write a check now for money allegedly owed using profanity, really? You think Tim Cook is really going to meet with West in some set up meeting, umm, no. I'm not saying what will or will not happen, but he does not set the precedent on anything. In the end, West is not a business entrepreneur and the only thing he has, is the Kardashian name aside him. That's it. He is a wash out. Case and point.

I see, still the abbuse. He is the co owner of Tidal along with several other A list mega stars with millions of fans globally, hence my comment about Apple being careful with their approach as it will all be very public.
 
Apple needs to disassociate itself with these idiots. What is Tim going to Steves company?!? Between this and Beats is a ****ing joke.

Yeah - its weird that Apple is associating itself with gangster thugs like Jay Z and Kanye. I mean....seriously? Business or not, being tied to the hip with these meatheads is a little risky. Ehhh.
 
Dre's Beats was an incredibly successful brand built up my an immensely well respected artist with an obvious acute business acumen. Apple buying beats made good sense, for both parties, and you could argue that with Dre (and Iovine) on board there's already real moves to build in the landscape of music distribution. There's intelligence in this deal.

JayZ can probably handle 'Talks' with Apple and Tidal, but is probably a bit upset that he has to carry West along for the ride. KW is probably the worst person you could have 'negotiating' your potentially huge deals. Waving your genius D**k around saying that anybody who doesn't look at it is missing out isn't going to give Apple anything to think about. With this approach Tidal are only going to look like they're trying to hold artists back from Apple Music as some kind of ransom deal, and I doubt Apple will bite.

Kanye could do with admitting to himself that he's not the master of the universe, and that nobody ever needs him to be a 'business man' but I doubt that will happen either.
 
This man is just a bit off his rockers. Is he on meds? Does he need to be? Someone should at least get him some counselling.
 
Well tidal could get a deal from google. So it isn't entirely safe for Apple to wait, if they want to make sure, that they get them.
Ahh yes, didnt think of that. Good point. I wonder what ever happened to Neil Young's lossless music endeavor? Is that still around or did that go under?
 
Easily worth at least $100M..

It has 4M subscribers paying between $10 and $20/mth. That's 4M x $15/mth = $60M/mth.. Using the usual 3 years to pay off a business that's $2B!! But let's say Tim negotiates hard we could be talking around $1B..

Jay-Z will become one very happy man soon..

I'm shocked to learn that it has that many paying subscribers. But even if it is pulling in $60M per month, I'm sure it isn't making a profit. One doesn't value a business on its revenue, you value it on its profit (or more likely its EBITDA).
But yeah, if it has 4M paying subscribers (and that number is somewhat independently verified) that is a major business. But still no way Apple is cutting a check for $1B for it. Not when even Kayne has to cave almost immediately on Life with Pablo. The customers will flow to the service that has the best selection of music and the best interface. Apple's interface will get better and it seems Apple has the ability to get the songs. Even musicians like Kayne or Jay-Z who are investors in Tidal can't keep their music off of Apple Music.
 
Kanye has talent. Bad rapper. Excellent producer. Kinda like Dr. Dre but Dre is superior. Nice sampling. Paul McCartney worked with him, so he must have some talent. He is also a very good artist in drawing. Kanye actually listens to alot of different genres.

Who is Paul McCartney? :) No one who makes or produce rap has talent, thats a scientific fact, period! (also :)) (but still true). On a sidenote, as a provider to itunes tidal and all the rest, I noticed I get a little better pay per stream from Tidal than spotify and itunes, and at least thats a good thing.
 
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