Tidal is reportedly having money problems
Lizzie Plaugic
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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
A new report from Norway’s Dagens Næringsliv claims that Tidal is running out of money while user growth has stalled. The report suggests that Tidal may only have around six months of working capital left.
In a statement to The Verge, a Tidal spokesperson said, “We have experienced negative stories about Tidal since its inception and we have done nothing but grow the business each year.”
Tidal reportedly lost NOK$368 million (around $44 million) before taxes last year, according to DN. Still, for comparison, Spotify’s 2016 losses were around $581 million, though revenue was around $3 billion.
At the start of this year, Sprint purchased a 33 percent stake in Tidal. At the time, Jay Z’s business partner and Roc Nation Sports president Juan Perez reportedly said that the Sprint investment gave Tidal “sufficient working capital for the next 12-18 months,” according to DN. Tidal reportedly claims it will break even soon and then achieve profitability in mid-2018.
Tidal has not given any public subscriber updates in the months since the Sprint investment. Earlier this year, Dagens Næringsliv also reported that Tidal had been inflating subscriber numbers. Tidal claimed in 2016 that it had 3 million subscribers, but DN found that the number was closer to 1 million. In 2016, Jay Z said that the company he bought Tidal from had also been inflating numbers.
Meanwhile, Spotify announced this summer that it had more than 60 million subscribers, while Apple Music has more than 30 million.
If I were to listen to the media, Tidal should’ve been gone years ago. But here I am currently listening to Onyx ( last dayz) on Tidal while I type this.
