Report: Tidal Lost $28 Million Last Year

Tidal

JAY Z's TIDAL music streaming service lost $28 million last year, according to a legal filing that was reported in WALL STREET JOURNAL, among others.

ASPIRO AB, the SWEDISH holding company acquired by the rapper and several superstar musician investors in MARCH 2015 for $56 million, lost $10.5 million in 2014.

Over the same period, revenue rose 30% to $47 million, which was more than offset by an increase in promotional and marketing costs. Three-quarters of that total went to royalty payments.

TIDAL "is stuck between consumers reluctant to pay for tunes they can easily access free, and record labels, which often demand upfront payment for copyright fees." 

For comparison, SPOTIFY, while also recording a net loss in 2015, doubled its revenue to $2.19 billion. TIDAL sports 4.2 million pay subscribers as of JUNE, which is far behind SPOTIFY's 30 million and APPLE MUSIC's 17 million, despite exclusive releases from principals KANYE WEST, RIHANNA and BEYONCE.

ASPIRO filed the financial statement with SWEDEN’s company-registration office BOLAGSVERKET, which indicated short-term debt to suppliers shot up to $24 million last year, from $5 million in 2014, according to the document. ASPIRO commented: “The board believes the company will be able to secure new financing.”

TIDAL charges $20 per month for a high-fidelity version of its 40 million-song catalog and $10 a month for download-quality sound.

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