(AllHipHop News) One of the big 2014 business stories involving the music industry was the fact that consumers are now leaning more towards streaming music as opposed to purchasing albums. It appears one Hip Hop mogul is looking to get in on the growing trend by buying his own streaming services.
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Reuters reports Jay’s S. Carter Enterprises subsidiary Project Panther put in a $56 million bid for Aspiro. The Scandinavian company controls the streaming services WiMP and Tidal. Aspiro’s main shareholder, Schibsted, has accepted the offer.
This will put Jay in direct competition with other streaming giants like Spotify and Apple’s Beats Music. Project Panther refered to Aspiro as “an innovative high-quality company with strong future growth potential.”
Aspiro’s WiMP reportedly has 512,000 paying subscribers in Europe. Its more expensive HiFi version, Tidal, is said to have 20,000 subscribers. Tidal launched in the U.S. in October 2014 with a monthly subscription price of $19.99.