International Business Times

If you follow rapper Jay Z at all, you’d know that he’s arguably more of an entrepreneur than a music artist. Soon, the rapper will expand his business to the music streaming industry. From a report earlier today, Jay Z has plans to purchase Swedish tech company Aspiro for $56 million through his company Project Panther Bidco. Aspiro is a tech company that runs two high-quality streaming services, WiMP and Tidal. Schibsted, a media company who owns a majority of Aspiro’s shares, accepted Jay Z’s bid for the company earlier today.

Trond Berger, CFO of Schibsted ASA, explains the acquisition further:

Schibsted and Streaming Media have been active owners of Aspiro for 3 years, and there has been significant progress made by Aspiro during this period. Schibsted believes there is a lot of potential for further growth of the Company. However, Aspiro needs substantial expansion capital and a strong and dedicated owner to be able to grow and compete on the global music streaming market… Panther, which is controlled by S. Carter Enterprises, LLC, has adequate financial resources and a high level of competence in the music industry. Hence, I think they will be a better owner to lift Aspiro and its advanced music streaming service to a new level.

It’s easy to see that Jay Z was heavily influenced in his decision by Dr. Dre’s success after Apple bought Beats by Dre for $3 billion last May. And now, with two streaming services under his belt, this acquisition could possibly propel the rapper to compete with the likes of Beats, Google Play Music, or even Spotify. Assuming the acquisition goes through without a hitch, we’ll have to wait and see what Jay Z has planned for these services.