Perhaps noting the success of contemporary Dr. Dre with Beats, Jay Z has now purchased Aspiro, a Swedish tech company that runs two streaming music services: WiMP and Tidal.
The cost of the acquisition was $56 million, according to Reuters. Jay Z will add the purchase to an empire that includes 40/40 Club sports bars and the Rocawear clothing brand. Forbes estimates Jay Z's (née Shawn Carter) wealth at $520 million.)
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Jay Z told Reuters that he had been watching Aspiro for some time, and considers the company “an innovative high-quality company with strong future growth potential.”
The streaming services compete with Spotify, but are geared toward audio enthusiasts; they offer lossless compression -- that is, reduce the size of files with no loss of data. Since the streaming services boast a superior sound, they are more expensive: Tidal charges $20 a month, versus $9.99 a month for Spotify Unlimited.
The move comes as Apple is reportedly planning to re-release its Beats Music service later this year. Apple bought Beats, which was co-created with Dr. Dre, for $3 billion last year.