Jay-Z's Tidal said to be losing millions of dollars

Spokesperson denies Norwegian report music service could run out of cash within six months.

By Rachel DeSantis New York Daily News

December 18, 2017 at 8:15PM
Jay-Z
Jay-Z (Marci Schmitt — Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Jay-Z's Tidal may be on the verge of sinking.

The music streaming service is reportedly losing money to the tune of tens of millions of dollars per year, and may not have enough dough to stick around for another six months, Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv reports.

The outlet claims that since Hov purchased Tidal in 2015, it has lost around $60 million — $44 million of which came in 2016 alone.

Still, Tidal reportedly claims it's on track to turn a profit in mid-2018.

A spokesperson for the company dismissed the report to the Daily News, and said Tidal has been battling bad press since the very beginning.

"We have experienced negative stories about Tidal since its inception, and we have done nothing but grow the business each year," the spokesperson told the News.

The report comes nearly one year after Sprint purchased a 33 percent stake in the company for $200 million.

At the time, Jay-Z's business partner Juan Perez reportedly claimed Sprint's investment would give the company "working capital" for the next year to year and a half, according to Dagens Næringsliv.

From a highly publicized beef with Kanye West to legal drama, the streaming service has been plagued with controversy since Jay-Z bought it in 2015 for $56 million.

In 2016, the rapper sued Norwegian media company Schibsted for exaggerating its number of subscribers.

During negotiations, Schibsted said it had around 540,000 users, although the actual number appeared to be much lower.

A 2016 Dagens Næringsliv report also said Jay-Z was inflating user numbers — Tidal said last year it had hit 3 million subscribers, but the newspaper said the number was closer to 1 million.

For comparison, Spotify has more than 60 million subscribers, and Apple Music has more than 30 million.

Spotify charges $9.99 a month for Premium, but users can also use the service for free.

Tidal, meanwhile, requires all users to pay, with subscriptions at $9.99 per month.

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Rachel DeSantis New York Daily News