Jay Z looking to buy Spotify competitor Aspiro

JAY Z is looking to follow fellow rapper Dr Dre’s lead and buy into the increasingly popular streaming music market.

Rapper rap singer Jay-Z. jay/z

RAPPER Jay Z has put in an offer to buy Swedish music streaming company Aspiro for $US56 million.

Jay Z isn’t the first hip-hop artist to purchase a music streaming service. Dr Dre bought the MOG music and blog network last year, which has since been rebranded under his Beats brand.

Jay Z is close to securing a multimillion-dollar deal to expand into Europe with his business empire, which already includes sports bars, a record label, and clothing range.

Bosses of Project Panther Bidco Limited, a company controlled by the rapper, said on Friday it had agreed to buy Aspiro, which runs streaming service WiMP, for $US56 million ($A72.19 million).

They said: “Panther believes that the recent developments in the entertainment industry, with the migration to music and media streaming, offers great potential for increased entertainment consumption and an opportunity for artists to further promote their music.

“Panther’s strategic ambition revolves around global expansion and upscaling of Aspiro’s platform, technology and services.”

Aspiro’s primary shareholder confirmed it had accepted the offer and the board has recommended it, meaning the deal is likely to go ahead.

It’s believed Jay Z is interested in the service because it offers “lossless playback” — songs that aren’t compressed and therefore haven’t lost audio quality — something that is becoming increasingly popular with investors.

Services offering this quality are ultimately aimed at a slightly different market. However, it is rumoured Spotify may offer the feature in the future.

WiMP boasts more than half a million subscribers in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Poland. It streams more than 25 million songs and 75,000 music videos.