One of the main avenues that the music industry has successfully combatted music privacy is through music streaming services such as Beats Music, Rdio, and perhaps most popularly, Spotify. This has been perhaps best illustrated by Scandinavian countries such as Norway, which has seen a steep decline in file sharing (from 80% to 4% of people under 30 downloading illegally between 2009-2014). Another part of the equation is WiMP, the Sweden-based music streaming service, considered by some as Spotify’s biggest rival for its European market share. In yet another bold business venture, Jay Z (through his Project Panther Bidco company) expands his music empire by asserting a $56 million USD offer for WiMP’s parent company — Aspiro — which is based in Sweden. Reports from close parties have detailed that Aspiro’s main shareholder has already accepted the offer, meaning Jay Z’s company needs only cross its t’s for the deal to close. Only time will tell if this move will benefit HOV, and ultimately global listeners, but for now, leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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