Jay Z's Tidal may have just gotten off the ground with exclusive arrangements with more than 16 major artists -- including Rihanna, Beyonce, Kanye West, Madonna, Daft Punk and Jack White. But what about all the upper-tier acts who aren't involved (Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake and Sam Smith among them)? Don't be surprised if they're a part of Jimmy Iovine's planned relaunch of Apple's Beats Music, expected to arrive in June as a subscription-only service for either $7.99 or $9.99 per month.
Jay Z's Tidal On a Wave of Expansion
Speaking with Billboard about bidding competitively with Iovine behind-the-scenes of Tidal and Beats' respective launches, Jay Z said, "My thing with Jimmy is, 'Listen Jimmy, you're Jimmy Iovine and you're Apple and truthfully, you're great. You guys are going to do great things with Beats, but you guys don't have to…you know, I don't have to lose in order for you guys to win and let's just remember that.' Again, I'm not angry, I actually told him, 'Yo, you should be helping me. This is for the artists, these are people that you supported your whole life. You know, this is good.'"