What reason could Jay-Z have for visiting Samsung’s US headquarters other than to talk about selling Tidal? Actually, quite a good one: negotiating a $25m sponsorship deal for Roc Nation artist Rihanna.
The New York Post suggests the meeting that sparked rumours of a Tidal sale to Samsung was more likely focused on Rihanna’s upcoming album and tour.
“Samsung wants to use Rihanna to help promote its Galaxy line of products and wants exclusive use of Rihanna-related video content to release via its Milk Music radio service,” claimed the report, noting that whether Tidal will get non-video content exclusively is “an open question” – despite the fact that such exclusives from its team of co-owners was one of its raisons d’etre.
For now, the Rihanna deal is unconfirmed by either side, which also leaves room for speculation about possible distribution for the album: could the star follow Jay-Z’s lead and give some albums away as downloads to Samsung device owners?
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