KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Sprint Corp. announced Monday that it has acquired a 33 percent stake in Jay Z's music streaming service Tidal.
The partnership will give Sprint's 45 million retail customers unlimited access to content made by artists on Tidal.
Jay Z and the artist-owners will continue to run the streaming service. Marcelo Claure, Sprint's chief executive officer, will join Tidal's board of directors.
"Sprint shares our view of revolutionizing the creative industry to allow artists to connect directly with their fans and reach their fullest, shared potential," Jay Z said in a release. "Marcelo understood our goal right away and together we are excited to bring Sprint's 45 million customers an unmatched entertainment experience."
Tidal allows artists from around the world to connect with fans. The service offers a catalog of more than 42.5 million songs and 140,000 videos. The service provides CD sound quality music and high-resolution video.
"Jay Z saw not only a business need, but a cultural one, and put his heart and grit into building Tidal into a world-class music streaming platform that is unrivaled in quality and content," Claure said in the release.
"The passion and dedication that these artist-owners bring to fans will enable Sprint to offer new and existing customers access to exclusive content and entertainment experiences in a way no other service can."
The partnership comes on the heels of Tidal's announcement to provide "master" quality recordings from a variety of labels and artists.
