On January 23, Sprint Corp announced they would be acquiring 33% stake of Jay-Z’s music streaming company Tidal. This will allow Sprint to offer their customers exclusive Tidal content. The wireless carrier hopes to attract new users with the featured content. 

Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure will join the board at Tidal, alongside music mogul Jay-Z. Sprint is moving in the way of their competitors by offering exclusive music streaming services. Sprint’s shares have risen almost 3% since the news came out.

Sprint is thought to be competing with AT&T, which offers a connection with DirecTV streaming, and Verizon Wireless, which offers sports streaming. Tidal has been facing a tough playing field as well in a market ripe with competition. Similar streaming services, like Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora, have made their mark long before Tidal came onto the scene.

Tidal founder Jay-Z has stated that “Sprint shares our view of revolutionizing the creative industry to allow artists to connect directly with their fans and reach their fullest, shared potential.” The two companies certainly share the same goal - to help gain a leg-up on their competition. Hopefully the pairing will succeed in being mutually beneficial.