[UPDATED] Jay Z's deal to acquire Aspiro, the Scandinavian company that owns streaming music and video service WiMP and its hi-def audio cousin Tidal for $56 million, still needs final approval from stockholders. But that's not slowing its expansion plans, which as of this morning include launching Tidal in 22 new countries in the first quarter of this year.
Aspiro announced today that it will launch in Austria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Switzerland, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, South Africa and Turkey. Including the US, Canada and UK and other previously launched markets Tidal will then be available in 30 countries.
Just 12,000 SubscribersTidal has just 12,000 subscribers globally. Asprio's mainstream service WiMP has 500,000 subscribers, down 2% in the last quarter.
Jay Z's bid for the music streamer was made in December by Project Panther, an offshoot of the his S. Carter Enterprises. Aspiro’s board of directors have unanimously recommended that shareholders approve the purchase.
“We continue to accelerate our expansion, as demand for our product keeps rising,” said Tidal CEO Andy Chen. “Besides directly from consumers, we are also seeing a very strong growth from new home audio partners." 12 home audio integration partners are already live include Sonos, Bluesound, Linn, Simple Audio, Auralic, Mirage, Squeezebox, Amarra sQ, Mcintosh, Wadia, Electrocompaniet and Meridian. 25 additional services will be adding Tidal integration in the coming months.
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