Kanye West certainly has a knack for keeping things interesting and comically light-hearted. Earlier today, the outspoken rapper went on one of his patented Twitter rants and urged Apple to acquire Tidal, the music streaming service and Apple Music rival owned by Jay-Z.
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Hardly a sentiment coming out of left field, rumblings of Apple’s interest in picking up Tidal first bubbled to the surface about a month ago per a report in The Wall Street Journal. Apple’s interest in Tidal is apparently two-fold: One, it would help Apple compete against Spotify as far as overall subscribers are concerned. Two, Apple is reportedly interested in Tidal’s close relationship with artists.
Indeed, one of the ways in which Apple has set out to differentiate Apple Music from Spotify is by cozying up with big name artists and releasing highly anticipated albums on Apple Music first. Tidal, naturally, has also tried to play the exclusivity game, most notably when Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo remained a Tidal exclusive for months before it showed up on rival services like Apple Music and Spotify. As another example, you won’t find Prince’s extensive library of music on Apple Music but you can enjoy it on Tidal.
When one adds in varying licensing deals across the streaming music industry, the end result is a fragmented market where music lovers seemingly need to sign up for three disparate music services if they truly want enjoy the world’s full catalog of music.
And Kanye West, for one, is sick and tired of it.
First, West lays out the groundwork.
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/759436006810460160
Preach Kayne, preach.
Next, Kanye wants to organize a meeting of the minds with important industry players like Apple CEO Tim Cook and Drake.
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/759436516389117952
Still going, Kanye then urges everyone to think of the children in a distinctly Kanye-esque manner.
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/759437257099010048
But it all boils down to one simple thing — Apple just needs to acquire Tidal. And rather hilariously, West urges Tim Cook to stop thinking that he’s Steve Jobs. Though to be fair, Apple’s strategy thus far with respect to Apple Music is a decidedly Jobsian approach.
