Digital Music reported last Friday that Norwegian publication Dagens Naeringsliv is claiming that Tidal's music subscription claims have been fraudulent – based on the company creating fake accounts and lying to the media and partners. With that dark cloud over their head, the news has flipped to Sprint acquiring 33% of Tidal. Sprint is owned by Softbank who told President-elect Trump that they planned on investing $50 billion in the U.S.

It's being reported today that "Sprint has agreed to acquire 33% of Jay Z's Tidal as part of a partnership that will give the carrier's customers access to the app's exclusive music content.

A source familiar with the deal said Sprint paid around $200 million for the stake and also committed to a $75 million annual artist marketing fund.

"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 statement Monday announcing the deal.

The deal represents what could be a vital lifeline for Tidal as it faces stiff competition from Spotify and Apple Music, mounting losses, and an apparent failure to get acquired by Apple, reports CNN.

USA Today adds that "Sprint says the artist-owners who run Tidal will continue to run the streaming music service as before. Artists involved in the venture, including Alicia Keys, Kanye West and Madonna, each own 3% equity in Tidal, while Jay Z owns the remainder."

Earlier this month Patently Apple posted a report titled "Original Movies and TV Series could be coming to Apple TV Subscription Service Later this Year." The WSJ reported that Apple was planning to build a significant new business in original television shows and movies. Executives at Apple have told people in Hollywood they hope to start offering original scripted content by the end of 2017.

It's clear that Tidal could become a real competitor to Apple Music going forward with Sprint's backing the music service and all the more reason that Apple has to put the pedal to the metal and get their new original content for Apple Music into high gear.

The question now is – will other wireless carriers now start eying Spotify and other music services and Apple competitors as potential partners to better compete with Sprint? It's a potential wave that could be a concern for Apple and one that might push them to act sooner and more aggressively in getting their new entertainment service off the ground.

Apple's World Wide Developer Conference keynote this summer could be an interesting event to watch as it could be here where they make their major announcements on this front.

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