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Tidal losses doubled last year

By | Published on Wednesday 14 September 2016

Tidal

Tidal may be one of the smaller streaming services, but it’s great to know it can haemorrhage cash just as well as the big boys. A legal filing by the service’s holding company, Aspiro AB, shows that the streaming firm doubled its losses last year following Jay-Z’s much hyped acquisition of the business, while revenues went up just 30%.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Tidal lost $28 million last year, compared to $10.4 million in 2014, while revenues rose from $36.2 million to $47 million. As with all streaming services, a big part of the company’s expenditure – and therefore losses – was the royalties paid to the music industry which, although in theory on a revenue share arrangement, also demands minimum guarantees based on consumption.

One source told the Journal that the Aspiro AB company filing in Sweden doesn’t include all of Tidal’s US-based revenue and financing, though it’s not clear whether those figures would improve the overall picture or not.

Meanwhile Norwegian business newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv has reported that, having analysed Aspiro AB’s accounts, it reckons the streaming firm had, as of Monday, $438,000 in unpaid bills and overdue payments to about hundred creditors.

Good times. Though you know what they say, an Apple a day keeps the bailiff a way. They say that, right?



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