Sprint To Buy A Third Of Tidal Music

(Reuters) -- Wireless carrier Sprint Corp said on Monday it would buy 33 percent of Tidal, a music streaming service owned by rapper Jay Z.

The deal would make exclusive content from Tidal available to 45 million retail Sprint customers, marking the company's move to more content driven services in a highly competitive wireless market.

Apple Inc was in talks to buy Tidal to boost its Apple Music service, according to a Wall Street Journal report in June.

Sprint Chief Executive Marcelo Claure will join Tidal's board.

Tidal calls itself an "artist-owned" service backed by Kanye West, Jay Z's wife Beyoncé and Madonna among others, and is available in more than 52 countries.