Meeting Between Jay Z And Samsung Could Forecast Tidal Acquisition

It would appear that Jay Z, rap legend and Tidal music screaming service owner, has been hanging out with the folks over at Samsung.

According to a report from Variety, Jay Z had a meeting in Samsung’s Silicon Valley office on Wednesday with a number of executives, including Daren Tsui, Samsung’s SVP of content and services.

Of course, a meeting does not an acquisition make. However, Milk Music (Samsung’s streaming music service which has failed to gain any major traction) conducts operations out of the same building where Jay Z and Tsui met. Also worth noting: Tsui’s title as head of content and services puts him squarely in charge of Samsung’s music offerings.

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If you’ve somehow erased the memory of Jay Z (and a cohort of other celebrities) launching Tidal, let’s have a quick refresh.

In early 2015, Jay Z acquired Tidal for a reported $56 million, and prepped for a re-launch of the service. At the end of March, he hopped on a stage with some of the biggest names in music to unveil the service, which is very similar to other streaming music services out there, save for the fact that it offers more attractive deals to musicians and offers hi-fi music to listeners.

Milk Music was launched by Samsung back in in March of 2014, offering users free, ad-free streaming of music with an interesting UI that uses a dial to choose which music was being tuned into. Following on Milk Music, Samsung launched Milk Video in November of 2014. The service was meant to let users easily discover and share videos from their phones.

Though neither service has been widely adopted, Milk Video in particular has been a major flop, with reports that Samsung would shut down the service in November.

If the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, then the best way to a user’s heart is through their ears. Samsung knows that music is integral to almost every smartphone user on the planet, and Tidal would offer a way for the electronics giant to try again at a musical software play.

Meanwhile, a pre-loaded Tidal app on the millions of Samsung phones sold each year would be a huge distribution upgrade for Jay Z’s Tidal.

Or… Jay Z simply wanted to hang out with the Samsung folks for a bit.