Jay Z sells 33% stake in Tidal

Bang Showbiz

24 January 2017

Jay Z has sold a 33 per cent stake in his streaming site Tidal to telecoms company Sprint for a reported $200 million

Jay Z has sold a 33 per cent stake in his streaming site Tidal.

Telecoms company Sprint has forked out an estimated $200 million for the hefty share of the 'Empire State Of Mind's company.

It will mean that Jay Z will make an impressive return on the initial $56 million he invested into the company when he purchased Tidal - which also has the likes of his wife Beyonce, Madonna, Rihanna, Daft Punk and Kanye West on the director's board - from Aspiro two years ago.

At the time of the acquisition, the 47-year-old rapper spoke about the importance of not "devaluing music".

He said: "People are not respecting the music, and devaluing what it really means. People really feel like music is free, but will pay $6 for water. You can drink water free out of the tap and it's good water. But they're OK paying for it. It's just the mindset right now."

Whilst Alicia Keys added: "Our mission goes beyond commerce, it goes beyond technology. Our intent is to preserve music's importance in our lives. Music is the language of love, of laughter, of heartbreak, of mystery. It's the world's true, true, without question, universal language."

When Tidal was first unveiled, it was criticised by a number of stars including Noel Gallagher, The Killers' frontman Brandon Flowers and Mumford and Sons.

However, Madonna came out in support of the brand, insisting it was just the beginning for the streaming service.

She said: "It's important that people understand we didn't create Tidal, we didn't put this together, we didn't all join forces because we're broke and we want more money.

"The idea is we want to support other artists and we want people to understand this is our heart, this is our work, and we want people to recognize that and we want other artists to have a chance."