the artists have no leverage. The labels are doing Jay a solid plus how is he paying the license for the labels' catalogs? That's who it's ultimately up to. Apple can go to the labels' coerce them into deading the exclusive wars.guarantee you. the artists signed to jay gives him leverage over most streaming companies, outside of spotify and apple music, but honestly, i think spotify is his biggest comp and not apple. with 1 billion iphones sold - apple has solidified their streaming service and that number gives them heavy pull in and outside of their ecosystem because apple music is available everywhere. but there's literally no way on earth he'll sell it for a loss.
i don't even have it downloaded but he's pulling in better numbers than they were doing before he bought it. the artists he has will be tied to a tidal exclusive launch and will boost subscribers every year probably. that's enough for people to get involved. i can see apple buying it so they can outright destroy spotify.
If that was me as CEO of Apple, I'll be speaking to the Justice Department about buying influential stakes in the major labels and bullishly increase the price to license the music and fukk over Spotify and Tidal. I use Spotify but I know a little about business.