Samsung is not planning to buy Jay Z’s streaming music service Tidal, despite speculation that a deal was in the works.
“The rumor of Samsung acquiring Tidal is not true,” a Samsung spokesperson told TheWrap on Friday afternoon.
Electronics giant Samsung had reportedly restarted talks to acquire the digital music subscription service owned by Beyonce’s husband and backed by a bevy of high-profile music megastars, according to a report in the New York Post late last week.
However, Samsung confirmed that there will be no purchase in the foreseeable future despite Jay Z having been spotted visiting the Samsung offices last October.
Both companies have grappled with their streaming-music efforts. Tidal was purchased by Jay Z last year in a deal worth $56 million after the service launched in the U.S. in late 2014 by its previous owner.
Jay Z and a slew of top music stars relaunched the service in a splashy event last year, but their proclamations about being the artist-advocacy service came off as tone-deaf with consumers, who balked at the $19.99 subscription price Tidal set for its high-definition streams.
Since then, Tidal has had a revolving door of CEOs, mishandled Rihanna‘s album release, and faced technical snafus with Kanye West’s impromptu exclusive record release through the service.
Samsung, meanwhile, has failed to gain meaningful mainstream traction for its service, Milk Music, despite preinstalling it on its blockbuster Galaxy and Note smartphones.
Tidal has also held discussions with Google and Spotify about smaller-scale partnerships, according to the Post, and Jay-Z has resorted to using his personal wealth to help Tidal pay its royalty bills.